Persistence of aerosols in the atmosphere

A simple example indicates that if a reactor with a spray factor of 0.005 and containing 10 cells suffered an accident on a night when the wind was 

2 m/s then persons living 1 km downwind from the reactor would inhale about 800 cells. If the cells were pathogens and only 10% of them were viable after airborne travel the consequences would still be serious at that distance. At distances closer to the plant doses will be large enough to raise antibodies against the bacteria and possibly cause other side effects. 

The way in which natural micro-organisms which might contaminate industrial processes are released into the atmosphere, transported and lost from the atmosphere has been extensively reviewed by Gregory.He shows that micro-organisms can readily be transported for considerable distances and that the airborne spread of organisms has played an important part in the distribution of species and of plant and animal pathogens in nature. 

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