An approach for deriving emergency planning zones for chemical munitions emergencies’,

Abstract The selection of an emergency planning zone {EPZ) for hazardous materials is often a difficult technical as well as a political task. This paper describes a method used in the United States to establish EPZs in the Army's Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program. A rationale for a zoned based approach to emergency planning for hazardous materials is developed. The method presented integrates risk analysis data with meteorological, topographical, demographic, and political concerns. The method is then applied at the Tooele Army Depot in Tooele, Utah. Although the analysis concerns chemical weapons, the process is relevant to other hazardous material problems

Measurement of the inclusive charmless semileptonic branching ratio of B mesons and determination of vertical bar V-ub vertical bar

We report a measurement of the inclusive charmless semileptonic branching fraction of B mesons in a sample of 89x10(6) B(b) over bar events recorded with the BABAR detector at the Y(4S) resonance. Events are selected by fully reconstructing the decay of one B meson and identifying a charged lepton from the decay of the other B meson. The number of signal events is extracted from the mass distribution of the hadronic system accompanying the lepton and is used to determine the ratio of branching fractions B((B) over bar --> X(u)l (v) over bar)/B((B) over bar --> Xl (v) over bar) = [2.06 +/- 0.25(stat) +/- 0.23(syst) +/- 0.36(theo)] x 10(-2). Using the measured branching fraction for inclusive semileptonic B decays, we find B((B) over bar --> X(u)l (V) over bar) = [2.24+/-0.27(stat) +/- 0.26(syst) +/- 0.39(theo)] x 10(-3) and derive the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix element parallel toV(ub)parallel to = [4.62 +/- 0.28(stat) +/- 0.27(syst) +/- 0.48(theo)] x 10(-3)

Adoption of emergency planning practices for chemical hazards in the United States

Abstract Emergency preparedness for chemical hazards is a relatively recent phenomenon. The earliest plans were adopted in the late 1960's but more than half of the existing chemical plans were enacted after 1987. The central purpose of this paper is to examine factors underlying variations in levels of community preparedness for chemical hazards. Ideally, the implementation process would be observed directly in a number of communities to determine the events and factors that stimulate the adoption of various planning practices; However, such a study is probably unrealistic, expensive and unlikely to be able to observe enough of the process to be usefui. This paper examines survey data collected in late-1987 and mid-1988, in support of the SARA Title III Section 305b Report to Congress. Five factors related to the adoption of state-of-the-art planning practices among local community emergency management organizations are examined: innovation, available resources, necessity, vicarious experience, and professionalism. While each of these factors exhibit relationships with the adoption of state-of-the-art planning practices, none is sufficient to explain the trends in the adoption of planning practices. Supporting evidence is presented that links the adoption of state-of-the-art planning practices to the evaluation of risk in the community and innovation in other related areas