Abstract
Nitrogen dioxide is generated in the closed atmosphere of the submarine primarily by cigarette smoking and diesel exhaust. When running the diesel engine on the surface, certain wind conditions allow diesel exhaust to be sucked into the submarine through the snorkel air supply. We obtained time-weighted averages of NO2 aboard two nuclear submarines (A and B) using area and personal samplers. A continuous measurement on submarine (B) also was made with a chemiluminescent monitor. Samplers exposed in seven areas for 7.8, 4.8, and 2.5 days aboard submarine (A) gave mean (±SD) values of 0.088(0.021), 0.117(0.026), and 0.191(0.035) ppm, respectively. Samplers exposed in eight areas on submarine (B) for 66.6 and 33.3 days gave mean (±SD) values of 0.065(0.014) and 0.069(0.018) ppm, respectively. Samplers affixed on personnel in the breathing zone generally reflected the ship's average. A 12 day average of the continuous monitor placed aboard submarine (B) gave a value of 0.035 ppm. During the patrol, evolutions such as snorkeling (an operation necessary when the diesel engine is running) and ventilating produced 12 values higher than 0.05 ppm, with 0.200 ppm being the highest measured value. It would appear that these average and spike values of NO2 are well within the bounds of various published NO2 limits and thus are not likely to present a health hazard to the young, healthy crews of submarines.