The Year 2020 was a trying time, but some exciting news has come out of 2020… Jack Rabbit III is in the works. The Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CSIA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) have been working on the infamous Jack Rabbit study Phase III since early 2020. Without question, these Jack Rabbit studies/testing have been the largest-scale chemical cloud behavior studies ever performed in the world. We learned a lot about our modeling software assumptions with Chlorine (Cl2) and Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3) in Phases I and II. And based on the following facts, Phase III will focus on Anhydrous Ammonia (NH3):
- Anhydrous Ammonia is the most reasonable choice for large-scale release based on the comprehensive consequences/likelihood/hazard Index Assessments.
- The Mean Probability of Anhydrous Ammonia Selection is 19%, which is far greater than 48 initial toxic industrial chemicals dominantly transported through the chemical supply chain: this is 76 times greater than the least likely choice.
- U.S. Exports of Ammonia increased by 14.75 % ($78 million) from Jan to Aug of 2020
In a nationwide survey of emergency responders, they asked:
What Are the Most Serious Hazardous Material Threats in Your Community?
60% of respondents listed NH3, with Chlorine coming in second place @ 23%. Remember, previous studies concentrated on both Cl2 and NH3.
JR III Summary
- Assessed current chemical threats and identified safety/security gaps through technical survey and interview
- Continued to fill critical knowledge gaps through modeling, wind tunnel chamber study, and laboratory experimentation
- Conducted Wind Tunnel Study to further support JR III Planning for Large Scale Open Field Release of Toxic Inhalation Hazard Chemicals
- Demonstrated QUIC modeling result will be able to guide determining appropriate sensor locations with the understating that some source behavior cannot be accounted for
- Identified innovative ammonia sensing: remote sensing, point sensing, high-definition video recording equipment, and drones/UAS for JR III Field Trials
CLICK HERE for the CISA/DHS presentation