Simplified model for radioactive contaminant transport: the TRANSS code

A simplified ground-water transport model called TRANSS was devised to estimate the rate of migration of a decaying radionuclide that is subject to sorption governed by a linear isotherm. Transport is modeled as a contaminant mass transmitted along a collection of streamlines constituting a streamtube, which connects a source release zone with an environmental arrival zone. The probability-weighted contaminant arrival distribution along each streamline is represented by an analytical solution of the one-dimensional advection-dispersion equation with constant velocity and dispersion coefficient. The appropriate effective constant velocity for each streamline is based on the exact travel time required to traverse a streamline with a known length. An assumption used in the model to facilitate the mathematical simplification is that transverse dispersion within a streamtube is negligible. Release of contaminant from a source is described in terms of a fraction-remaining curve provided as input information. However, an option included in the code is the calculation of a fraction-remaining curve based on four specialized release models: (1) constant release rate, (2) solubility-controlled release, (3) adsorption-controlled release, and (4) diffusion-controlled release from beneath an infiltration barrier. To apply the code, a user supplies only a certain minimal number of parameters: a probability-weighted list of travel times for streamlines, a local-scale dispersion coefficient, a sorption distribution coefficient, total initial radionuclide inventory, radioactive half-life, a release model choice, and size dimensions of the source. The code is intended to provide scoping estimates of contaminant transport and does not predict the evolution of a concentration distribution in a ground-water flow field. Moreover, the required travel times along streamlines must be obtained from a prior ground-water flow simulation