| Summary: | The new Concorde flight corridors will be at approximately the same height as the debris cloud trajectories of recent high yield Chinese weapons tests. In response to this perception, the FAA with other U.S. agencies is formulating a concept for a Stratospheric Environmental Assessment Capability (SEAC) whose objective is to furnish timely and accurate predictions of in-cabin environmental radiation dose-to-man estimates in the event of future nuclear tests. Modeling elements of the proposed SEAC are illustrated on the high yield Chinese test of November 17, 1976, wherein the debris cloud intersected the North Atlantic flight corridors several days after detonation and resulted in whole-body gamma dose rates of about 1 millirem per hour above background. Had the flight levels been a few kilometres higher, the estimated dose would have been 30 percent higher. The potential exposures on stratospheric flight corridors of the Pacific were estimated to be about 200 to 300 mr/hr, a level warranting diversion of some flight paths. The technical basis and modeling capabilities involved in SEAC will be reviewed along with perceptions of transferrable experience in the stratosphere to other transnational air quality problems.
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