The "Brookhaven Brassie" and the Response to the Three Mile Island Accident

In the mid-1970s, American civil defense authorities became increasingly concerned with the potential threat of fission reactor accidents. Research from the Defense Civil Preparedness Agency began to be aimed not just at the ever-present threat of nuclear warfare but also peacetime emergencies as part of a "dual use" philosophy. The Brookhaven National Laboratory received funding to create a prototype radioiodine air sampling system, with multiple publications detailing the creation of the air sampler itself and a special CD V-700 survey meter that accompanied it. In late March 1979, the system found its first operational employment at the reactor accident at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania. Despite successful use and further study, the BNL Air Sampler was not widely fielded by the federal government. However, lessons learned from its employment and development may be applicable to contemporary radiological emergency response.