Simulation of the Atmospheric Dispersion of Radionuclides Using Gaussian Plume Model

Abstract

The Chernobyl accident and Fukushima 1 Nuclear Power Plant accident are the most serious accidents in the history of the nuclear technology and industry. A large amount of radioactive materials from nuclear power plant were released, leading to huge damage and long-term effect on the environment as well as the human health neighbor to the plant. Therefore, simulating the transport and transformation of radionuclides in the atmosphere is significant for decision makers to take steps at all level. Now, many different dispersion models are widely applied and used to simulate the transport and transformation of radionuclide such as Gaussian model, Lagrangian model and Eulerian model. Though the Eulerian or Lagrangian models have several advantages, such as high spatial resolution, fully 3D descriptions of the meteorological, the simple Gaussian plume model is still widely chosen because of its higher accuracy and faster calculation. In this study, the atmospheric dispersion of leaked radioactive material during nuclear accident is simulated by using Gaussian plume model. The relative concentration distribution of the radionuclides and the trajectory of the distribution centrode are obtained in taking account of different geographical environments, wind direction, wind velocity, and stability category. These results can provide a favorable evidence for the management of nuclear accident emergency.