Development of a non-conservative radionuclides dispersion model in the ocean and its application to surface cesium-137 dispersion in the Irish Sea

A numerical simulation model system that consists of an ocean current model, Princeton Ocean Model (POM), and a particle random-walk model, SEA-GEARN, has been developed to describe the migration behavior of non-conservative radionuclides in a shallow water region. Radionuclides in the ocean are modeled in three phases, i.e., the dissolved phase in seawater, the adsorbed with large particulate matter (LPM) and the adsorbed with active bottom sediment. The adsorption and desorption processes between the dissolved and solid phases are solved by the stochastic method with the kinetic transfer coefficients. Deposition of the LPM and re-suspension from bottom sediment are also considered. The system was applied to simulate the long-term (24-year) dispersion of ¹³⁷Cs actually released from the BNFL spent nuclear fuel reprocessing plant at Sellafield in United Kingdom. The calculation well reproduced the main characteristics of migration of dissolved ¹³⁷Cs concentration in the Irish Sea. (author)