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In the current state of the world, threats in the form of radioactively laced explosives are a very real and very frightening possibility. These radiological dispersal devices (RDD), or ‘dirty bombs', consist of radioactive material combined with conventional explosive.[2] Detonating a dirty bomb creates an expanding radioactive cloud capable of blanketing large areas, such as multiple city blocks, primarily to cause panic and terror in the target population. Unfortunately, rogue nations and terrorist groups are able to get the required components, as there are many unsecured or unaccounted for sources of radioactive material around the world. Therefore, it becomes necessary to anticipate the effects of such an explosion, both for planning and reactive purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a part of forming a model for CBRN risk assessment, it is important to understand the development of the radioactive cloud at first stage after its formation, as a function of time and TNT amount. Cloud rise models developed in past years for large quantities of explosives, within the range of hundreds of kilograms of TNT, and hence a knowledge gap infor TNT amount of less than 100 kg exists, and which is relevant to a Radiological Dispersive Device (RDD) event. The database for this work is two sets of explosions done, using 0.25-100 kg of TNT that were performed during the ‘Green Field 1' (GF1) and ‘Green Field 2' (GF2) tests conducted in Israel. In this work, we describe a new semi-empirical cloud rise model, based on the results of these two experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]