Defining Barrier Failure

Source mass can be specified to be present in discrete packages (e.g., 100 separate drums). For each individual package, two layers of containment (barriers) can be explicitly considered to exist (e.g., a drum and a liner within the drum).

Mass is not released from the Source until the barriers have failed. Barrier failure rates are described in terms of density functions of failure frequency (e.g., the rate of drum failure).

The topics below describe the details of how you can define barrier failure.