Assessment of state-of-the-art models for predicting the remobilisation of radionuclides following the flooding of heavily contaminated areas: the case of Pripyat River floodplain

The performances of models are assessed to predict the wash-off of radionuclides from contaminated flooded areas. This process should be accounted for in the proper management of the aftermath of a nuclear accident. The contamination of the Pripyat River water following the inundation of a floodplai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of environmental radioactivity 2006, Vol.88 (3), p.267-288
Main Authors: Monte, Luigi, Periañez, Raul, Kivva, Sergey, Laptev, Gennady, Angeli, Giacomo, Barros, Haydn, Zheleznyak, Mark
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Cesium Radioisotopes
Chernobyl Nuclear Accident
Contaminated floodplain
Continental surface waters
Disasters
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics
Exact sciences and technology
Freshwater
History, 20th Century
Modelling
Models, Theoretical
Natural water pollution
Pollution
Pollution, environment geology
Predictive Value of Tests
Radioactive Fallout
Radioactive Hazard Release
Radionuclides
Remobilisation
Rivers
Strontium Radioisotopes
Ukraine
Water Pollutants, Radioactive
Water treatment and pollution
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Summary:The performances of models are assessed to predict the wash-off of radionuclides from contaminated flooded areas. This process should be accounted for in the proper management of the aftermath of a nuclear accident. The contamination of the Pripyat River water following the inundation of a floodplain heavily contaminated by 90Sr and 137Cs of Chernobyl origin is used as the basis for modelling. The available experimental evidence demonstrated that remobilisation of radiostrontium is an important process implying a significant secondary radioactive load of water flowing over the contaminated floodplain. On the contrary, there is no empirical evidence of a similar behaviour for radiocaesium. In general, state-of-the-art models properly predicted the remobilisation of strontium, whereas they significantly overestimated radiocaesium concentrations in water. The necessary model improvements for a more accurate prediction of radiocaesium contamination levels include a reassessment of the values of the model parameters controlling the remobilisation process.
ISSN:0265-931X
1879-1700
DOI:10.1016/j.jenvrad.2006.02.006