The Long-term Diffusion of Dumped Wastewater from Japan in the Pacific Ocean

Abstract

The wastewater dumped into the Pacific Ocean by Japan, which contains hard-removal tritium, in addition to other radioactive isotopes including carbon 14, cobalt 60 and strontium 90, polluted not only the sea-domain of Japan but also affected the whole Pacific Ocean or even further sea areas. This report aims to simulate the pollution trends caused by the wastewater produced in Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. In this context, it is assumed that the polluted concentration or residual pollutants will gradually decrease as it moves away from the source and diffuses in the Ocean with time. To test the hypothesis, after the complex traditional numerical and uncertain particle swarm optimization were compared, Lattice Boltzmann Method (LBM) was introduced into the model which benefits from the simple description of fluid interactions, easily sets complex boundaries and parallel calculations and etc., can implement the simulation program easily. The LBM simulation results showed a similar direction as the hypothesis, however, as the LBM model only simulates the pollution contains in the water, considered the transportation to further ocean areas by the large and highly migratory marine animals and native pollution locked by the marine flora and microorganisms, the real trends may worse. These results suggest that the further environmental pollution impact caused by Japanese Nuclear wastewater is unpredictable but profound and lasting.