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Fire expert tells Surry planners modeled battery-plume concentrations should not extend offsite
Summary
A plume-dispersion expert from Fire and Risk Alliance told the commission that, based on UL testing data and site-specific modeling, hazardous concentrations from a battery thermal event at a properly designed site are not expected to disperse past the property boundary; she recommended emergency response planning and first-responder training.
Erica, a member of the modeling team at Fire and Risk Alliance, told the Surry County Planning Commission that plume-dispersion modeling based on UL testing shows the toxic components released during a thermal-runaway event in lithium-ion batteries are comparable to emissions from a typical house fire and, when a site is designed to code, do not disperse past property lines at concentrations hazardous to life or health.
"All the modeling that I've done, based on the sites that I've seen, which have been designed, you know, as code requires, any plumes would not disperse past the property boundary," Erica said. She explained that UL 9548 testing collects gas-release data used in plume models and that modeling covers both pre- and post-combustion scenarios. Erica also explained industry practice: suppression systems are often not required because applying water can create explosion hazards; instead the recommended response is to cool adjacent exposures and to include plume-modeling and emergency-response procedures in permit-stage hazard-mitigation analysis and first-responder training.
