Safety in the transport of hazardous substances in residential areas: cases of the release of TIC (chlorine, propane, and butane) at low temperatures

Over the last years, several regulations have been used to rule the dy- namics of the transport of dangerous substances. As a consequence, a number of regulations concerning the international railway transport of dangerous goods impacted on rail transport; Regulation 1907/2006 and Regulation 1272/2008 in- creased Toxicological information assets and tools that can be addressed in the event of a health emergency. The purpose of this study is to analyze dispersion scenarios to describe the consequences of an intentional release of propane, bu- tane or chlorine. Every scenario is designed to outline a hypothetical terrorist attack in a railway station were the compounds are released in form of aerosol, boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion or explosion. The toxicological expo- sure dynamics were modeled by means of ALOHA tools of software (Environ- mental Protection Agency). The simulations shown different dispersion for all considered chemicals: chlorine covers a larger area, liquid butane is the most persistent and much hazardous for inflammability and toxicity, propane shown destructive shock wave power, and relative acute outdoor toxicity. The exposures rates were eventually estimated using the “Green Book” parameters (Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research).