Modelling the spatio-temporal evolution of 3H in the waters of the River Tagus

Measurements of tritium specific activity levels and of temperatures in waters of the Torrejón-Tagus reservoir (Spain) showed that their radioactive characteristics were basically influenced by the radioactive liquid effluent from the Almaraz Nuclear Power Plant. This enters the Torrejón-Tagus reservoir via the Arrocampo cooling reservoir, which exchanges water with the first. We studied the temporal and spatial (in two dimensions) evolution of the mentioned parameters for years 1997 and 1998. The tritium levels were found to be significantly correlated with temperature. Two numerical models were constructed for a quantitative study of the tritium levels along Torrejón reservoir: a 1D model was used for the dispersion of tritium along the whole length of the reservoir, and a 2D depth-averaged model was used for a detailed study of the area where tritium is released into the reservoir. Both models solve the hydrodynamic equations, to obtain the currents induced by the exchanges of water between the reservoirs in the River Tagus and Arrocampo, and the advection/diffusion equation to calculate the dispersion of tritium. In general, the model results were in agreement with the experimental observations.     

Experimental investigation and modelling of tritium washout by precipitation in the area of the nuclear power plant of Paks, Hungary

Tritium occurs in nature in trace amounts, but its concentration is changing due to natural and artificial sources. Studies focusing on natural tritium have to take into account the effect of artificial sources. Also, the impact of tritium is an important issue in environmental protection, e.g. in connection with the emissions from nuclear power plants. The present work focuses on the rain washout of tritium emitted from the Paks nuclear power plant in Hungary. Rainwater collectors were placed around the plant and after a period of precipitation, rainwater was collected and analysed for tritium content. Samples were analysed using low-level liquid scintillation counting, with some also subject to the more accurate ³He ingrowth method. The results clearly show the trace of the tritium plume emitted from the plant; however, values are only about one order of magnitude higher than environmental background levels. A washout model was devised to estimate the distribution of tritium around the plant. The model gives slightly higher concentrations than those measured in the field, but in general the agreement is satisfactory. The modelled values demonstrate that the effect of the plant on rainwater tritium levels is negligible over a distance of some kilometres.     

Mapping of tritium emissions using absorption vapour samplers

Püspökszilágy Radioactive Waste Treatment and Disposal Facility (RWTDF) is a typical near-surface engineered repository designated to store low- and intermediate-level wastes from various institutes, research facilities and hospitals in Hungary. Two automatic combined ¹⁴C–tritium sampling units installed at the facility sample the air 2 m above surface. The one installed near the vaults detects tritium (T) activities two orders of magnitude higher than the far reference sampling unit. To localize the T emissions, 19 small absorption vapour samplers filled with silica gel were settled onto the ground surface. After the saturation of the silica gel, the water was recovered and its T concentration was measured with a low-background liquid scintillation counter. The absorption vapour samplers are cheap, simple and easy-to-use. We present the samplers and the T distribution map constructed from the data, which helps to localize the T emission.     

Statistical characteristics of radionuclide concentration field around a nuclear power plant

A Markov chain model with two states is used for investigating the space and time structure of the concentration field around an elevated continuous source. The concentration field is computed with a time-dependent Gaussian puff dispersion model run with observed meteorological data as input. Spatial distributions of transition probability, Besson persistence coefficient and order of Markov chain are presented for tritium routinely released from a nuclear power plant located about 100 miles east of Bucharest, Romania.     

Data assimilation for short range atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides: a case study of second-order sensitivity

This article presents the application of variational data assimilation to a simple Gaussian plume model for radionuclides. Adjoint modeling is applied to the model in order to minimize discrepancies between contamination observations and model outputs. The interest of such an approach is to get a better estimation of some parameters such as emissions or dispersion parameters. A second-order analysis is also performed to assess the sensitivity of the optimized parameters to some poorly known parameters. Sensitivity with respect to network design is also done.     

Framework for high-resolution climate change impact assessment on grapevines at a regional scale

Understanding the impacts of climate change on viticulture is especially essential in those areas producing high-quality wines. In this work, we create an operational framework to investigate climate change impact on viticulture in the Tuscany region (central Italy) the viticulture industry of which relies on producing high-quality wines to compete in a global market. The framework includes (i) statistical downscaling of General Circulation Model (GCM) outputs for the period 1975–2099 to a local scale; (ii) the use of downscaling outputs as driving variables in specific simulation models; (iii) the spatial interpolation of model outputs to feed an economic and (iv) a quality model. The results show that as a consequence of a progressive increase in temperature and a decrease in rainfall, (a) the area potentially suitable for grapevine cultivation increases; (b) the grapevine growth cycle becomes shorter; (c) the final yield is gradually reduced, particularly in those areas characterised by quality cultivation regulation; and d) the premium wine quality production areas shift towards higher elevations. The proposed framework revealed itself to be an effective tool for climate change impact assessment at a very local scale. Additionally, this approach may be easily extended to testing the effect of different adaptation strategies in terms of management practices (e.g. irrigation) and grape varieties (e.g. longer or shorter cycle, advanced or delayed bud burst).     

Data assimilation for short range atmospheric dispersion of radionuclides: a case study of second-order sensitivity

This article presents the application of variational data assimilation to a simple Gaussian plume model for radionuclides. Adjoint modeling is applied to the model in order to minimize discrepancies between contamination observations and model outputs. The interest of such an approach is to get a better estimation of some parameters such as emissions or dispersion parameters.A second-order analysis is also performed to assess the sensitivity of the optimized parameters to some poorly known parameters. Sensitivity with respect to network design is also done.     

Upward movement of tritium from contaminated groundwaters: a numerical analysis

This paper describes a research-oriented modelling exercise that addresses the problem of assessing the movement of tritium from a contaminated perched aquifer to the land surface. Participants were provided with information on water table depth, soil characteristics, hourly meteorological and evapotranspiration data. They were asked to predict the upward migration of tritium through the unsaturated soil into the atmosphere. Eight different numerical models were used to calculate the movement of tritium. The modelling results agree within a factor of two, if very small time and space increments are used. The agreement is not so good when the near-surface soil becomes dry. The modelling of the alternate upward and downward transport of tritium close to the ground surface generally requires rather complex models and detailed input because tritium concentration varies sharply over short distances and is very sensitive to many interactive factors including rainfall amount, evapotranspiration rate, rooting depth and water table position.     

Modelling tritium flux from water to atmosphere: application to the Loire River

Tritium (³H or T) is one of the major radionuclides released by nuclear power plants (NPP) into rivers. However, tritiated water (HTO) flux from water to air is seldom considered when assessing health effects of such releases. The aim of this paper is to present the result of a research program, called LORA, conducted on the Loire River (France). To improve our understanding of HTO flux from surface water to air, three field campaigns were organised during the NPP’s radioactive releases to measure simultaneously the activity concentrations in air on the riverbank, using an innovative system, and in river water. The measurements showed that during radioactive releases, water vapour was enriched in ³H. These results were used to calibrate exchange velocities. The average of these estimated exchange velocities was more than one order of magnitude higher than those calculated in the literature from indoor experiments. The variability of these values was also larger, showing that outdoor studies cover a wide range of conditions influencing HTO flux. No correlation was observed between exchanges velocities and meteorological conditions. However, there was a significant difference between day and night with a higher value observed during the day. Two approaches used to calculate HTO evaporation from water (i.e. the approach based on water evaporation and the approach considering that HTO follows its own concentration gradient) were included in a hydrodynamic model, which was used to evaluate HTO air activity along the Loire River. In conclusion, only the approach considering that HTO follows its own gradient led to a good agreement between measurements and predictions. A one-year simulation was done to estimate the contribution of this process to the dose. Its contribution can be considered as negligible in this case compared to the other pathways such as ingestion of water or foodstuffs.     

滇东南峰林湖盆区表层岩溶泉水化学动态变化分析

为探究不同表层岩溶带岩溶水系统和人类干扰方式下滇东南峰林湖盆区表层岩溶泉地球化学变化特征及其影响因素,利用CTDP300水质检测仪,对不同地质背景下的两泉域的水化学性质从月动态和降雨动态两个尺度进行了一个水文年的观测。结果表明:(1)菜花箐泉理化指标季节动态变幅较大:水温为4.6℃,电导率为302μs/cm,pH为0.66,水浊度为255.1;火把洞泉变幅相对较小:水温为3.3℃,电导率为225μs/cm,pH为0.5,水浊度9.8。(2)无雨时:菜花箐泉气温与水温、电导率、pH呈正相关关系;火把洞气温与水温呈现正相关关系,水温与电导率、pH呈现负相关关系。(3)强降雨时:菜花箐泉在降雨初期水温、电导率、水浊度均出现峰值,pH呈现低值。在降雨中后期,电导率大幅度上升,在6 h内从189μs/cm上升到405μs/cm,pH出现峰值后呈波动下降趋势。火把洞泉在降雨初期水温与电导率、pH呈正相关关系,各自呈现本期间峰值。在降雨持续10 h后,pH、电导率均呈现下降趋势。(4)弱降雨气候条件下:菜花箐和火把洞泉的理化指标变幅都较小,在降雨初期、中期和后期两泉域pH、电导率都出现稀释效应曲线。     

Revision and meta-analysis of selected biosphere parameter values for chlorine, iodine, neptunium, radium, radon and uranium

There is a continual supply of new experimental data that are relevant to the assessment of the potential impacts of nuclear fuel waste disposal. In the biosphere, the traditional assessment models are data intensive, and values are needed for several thousand parameters. This is augmented further when measures of central tendency, statistical dispersion, correlations and truncations are required for each parameter to allow probabilistic risk assessment. Recent reviews proposed values for 10-15 key element-specific parameters relevant to (36)Cl, (129)I, (222)Rn, (226)Ra, (237)Np and (238)U, and some highlights from this data update are summarized here. Several parameters for Np are revised downward by more than 10-fold, as is the fish/water concentration ratio for U. Soil solid/liquid partition coefficients, Kd, are revised downward by 10-770-fold for Ra. Specific parameters are discussed in detail, including degassing of I from soil; sorption of Cl in soil; categorization of plant/soil concentration ratios for U, Ra and Np; Rn transfer from soil to indoor air; Rn degassing from surface water; and the Ca dependence of Ra transfers.     

Detection of tritium sorption on four soil materials

In order to measure groundwater age and design nuclear waste disposal sites, it is important to understand the sorption behavior of tritium on soils. In this study, batch tests were carried out using four soils from China: silty clays from An County and Jiangyou County in Sichuan Province, both of which could be considered candidate sites for Very Low Level Waste disposal; silty sand from Beijing; and loess from Yuci County in Shanxi Province, a typical Chinese loess region. The experimental results indicated that in these soil media, the distribution coefficient of tritium is slightly influenced by adsorption time, water/solid ratio, initial tritium specific activity, pH, and the content of humic and fulvic acids. The average distribution coefficient from all of these influencing factors was about 0.1-0.2 mL/g for the four types of soil samples. This relatively modest sorption of tritium in soils needs to be considered in fate and transport studies of tritium in the environment.     

Re-emission of heavy water vapour from soil to the atmosphere

The re-emission process of tritiated water (HTO) deposited on a soil surface is an important process to assess tritium doses to the general public around nuclear fusion facilities in future. A field experiment using heavy water (HDO) as a substitute for HTO was carried out in the summertime to investigate the re-emission process of HTO from soil to the atmosphere. In the experiment, the time variations of depth profiles of HDO concentrations in soil exposed to HDO vapour and soil mixed with HDO were measured during the re-emission process on the field. The HDO concentrations in soil water in top soil layers of both the exposed and mixed soil rapidly decreased with time during the re-emission. However, the decrease of exposed soil was much greater than that of mixed soil. The re-emission process was analysed using a model including the evaporation of HDO from soil, the exchange between soil HDO and air H2O, and the diffusion of HDO in soil. It was found that the model is applicable to calculating the time variations of detailed depth profiles of HDO concentration in soil water in surface soil layers, using an estimated exchange velocity.     

Movement of a tritium plume in shallow groundwater at a legacy low-level radioactive waste disposal site in eastern Australia

Between 1960 and 1968 low-level radioactive waste was buried in a series of shallow trenches near the Lucas Heights facility, south of Sydney, Australia. Groundwater monitoring carried out since the mid 1970s indicates that with the exception of tritium, no radioactivity above typical background levels has been detected outside the immediate vicinity of the trenches. The maximum tritium level detected in groundwater was 390 kBq/L and the median value was 5400 Bq/L, decay corrected to the time of disposal. Since 1968, a plume of tritiated water has migrated from the disposal trenches and extends at least 100 m from the source area. Tritium in rainfall is negligible, however leachate from an adjacent landfill represents a significant additional tritium source. Study data indicate variation in concentration levels and plume distribution in response to wet and dry climatic periods and have been used to determine pathways for tritium migration through the subsurface.     

24个CMIP5模式对长江流域模拟能力评估

根据1961~2005年长江流域气象站点的实测月降水量和气温数据,采用第5期全球耦合模式比较计划CMIP5(the Fifth Phase of Coupled Model Intercomparison Project)中24个全球气候模式(GCM)的模拟结果,通过计算模拟变量和观测变量平均值的相对误差、归一化的均方根误差、时间和空间相关系数,采用M-K趋势分析方法,分别选用在长江流域模拟气温和降水较好的5个模式进行集合平均,从时间的演变规律和空间的分布特征两方面,检验该模式集合对长江流域模拟气温和降水的能力。研究结果表明:各个模式模拟气温的能力要明显好于模拟降水的能力,但模拟气温较好的模式模拟降水的能力并不一定突出;模式集合的结果表明:在时间尺度上,模式集合平均结果与观测值拟合程度较好,且模式集合的结果振荡幅度较观测值小;在空间尺度上,模式集合的空间分布趋势与观测值大致相同,说明采用的模式集合结果用于预估未来长江流域降水的时空分布特征和演变规律是可行的。     

城市化对南昌市降雨变化的影响研究

通过南昌市1951~2007年降雨资料市区站与郊区站对比分析的方法研究南昌市城市化对城市降雨的影响程度。分析表明,随着城市化进程推进,虽然城区汛期雨量没有增加,不存在明显"雨岛效应",但是降雨有趋于集中的趋势,降雨年内分配不均匀更加明显;受城市化的影响,城区降雨变化频率将增大,这直接影响到城市现有的和拟建的排水工程标准和雨洪排水工程的安全;城市化使得城区强降雨发生概率增加,其中对大暴雨发生概率的影响最大。     

Sedimentary radioactive tracers and diffusive models

This paper examines the underlying assumptions and consequences of applying a steady-state equation to sediment profiles of radioactive tracers in order to deconvolute sedimentation from bioturbation processes modelled as a diffusive type process.Several factors follow immediately from this investigation:

(i)

if the observed radioactive concentration increases with depth over any finite depth range then the proposed steady-state, constant flux equation is not applicable. Any increase in radioactive concentration with depth implies a negative mixing coefficient which is a physical impossibility;

(ii)

when the radioactive concentration systematically decreases with increasing sedimentary depth then solutions to the steady-state conservation equation exist only when either the constant solid state flux to the sediment surface is small enough so that a positive mixing coefficient results or when the mixing coefficient is small enough so that a positive flux results.

If the radioactive concentration, porosity and/or density of the solid phase are such that the proposed equation is inappropriate (because no physically acceptable solution exists) then one must abandon the proposed steady-state equation.Further: if the flux of solid sediment to the sediment surface varies with time then, of course, a steady-state conservation equation is also inappropriate.Simple examples illustrate that the assumption of steady-state restricts the applicability of this modelling approach to a relatively small sub-set of expected situations in the real world.     

太湖辐射和能量收支的时间变化特征

湖泊的辐射和能量收支的观测研究对于气象学和水文学研究都具有重要的意义。于2012年采用涡度相关系统和小气候观测系统观测太湖表面的辐射平衡、湖泊与大气之间的感热和潜热通量、水温廓线和常规气象要素数据,分析太湖表面辐射及能量收支的时间变化特征以及环境控制因子。结果表明:(1)太湖2012年辐射收支四分量(向下短波辐射、向上短波辐射、向下长波辐射和向上长波辐射)的年均值分别为146.5、9.4、359.7和405.4 W/m~2,反照率的年均值为0.06,各辐射分量日变化和季节变化特征明显;(2)净辐射和热储量日变化趋势相同,正午最高,午夜最低;湍流能量通量的日变化幅度较小;不同天气条件下能量分配具有一定差别:晴天条件下能量分配以潜热通量为主,阴天净辐射能量主要被水体吸收转换为热储量;(3)通过分析湍流能量通量与环境因子的相关性发现:感热通量变化最主要的相关因子是风速与湖–气界面温度差的乘积;风速与湖-气界面水汽压的乘积是潜热通量的主要驱动因子。本研究结果能为边界层气象学、全球能量和物质循环以及湖泊生态环境治理等研究提供理论基础和数据支持。     

On the sensitivity of a marine dispersion model to parameters describing the transfers of radionuclides between the liquid and solid phases

The sensitivity of a marine dispersion model for non-conservative radionuclides, previously developed and validated for the English Channel, to parameters describing the exchanges between the liquid and solid phases (suspended matter and bottom sediments) has been studied using a Monte Carlo method. A probability distribution is assigned to each parameter. They are sampled to obtain a set of model parameters and a model run is carried out. This process is repeated to obtain a distribution of model outputs. Partial correlation coefficients are calculated to assess the relative influence of each parameter on model output. Errors are also assigned to model results. Three situations are studied: an instantaneous release of radionuclides, a continuous release and the case of a contaminated sediment behaving as a long-term source of radionuclides. Calculations have also been carried out for two radionuclides with different geochemical behaviour: (137)Cs and (239,240)Pu. The results indicate that all parameters are relevant, depending on the phase we are interested in obtaining the result and on the source term (instantaneous, continuous or due to sediments). However, parameters that are, in general, more influential are kinetic rates, mixing depth in the sediment and mean radius of suspended and sediment particles. This suggests that including several particle sizes in future radionuclide dispersion models could lead to an improvement in model results. Differences have also been found with respect to the relevance of some parameters depending on the geochemical behaviour of the radionuclide.     

Organically bound tritium (OBT) for various plants in the vicinity of a continuous atmospheric tritium release

In order to quantify tritium impact on the environmental, we studied vegetation continuously exposed to a tritiated atmosphere. We chose lichens as bio-indicators, trees for determination of past tritium releases of the Valduc Centre, and lettuce as edible vegetables for dose calculation regarding neighbourhood. The Pasquill and Doury models from the literature were tested to estimate tritium concentration in the air around vegetable for distance from the release point less than 500m. The results in tree rings show that organically bound tritium (OBT) concentration was strongly correlated with tritium releases. Using the GASCON model, the modelled variation of OBT concentration with distance was correlated with the measurements. Although lichens are recognized as bio-indicators, our experiments show that they were not convenient for environmental surveys because their age is not definitive. Thus, tritium integration time cannot be precisely determined. Furthermore, their biological metabolism is not well known and tritium concentration appears to be largely dependent on species. An average conversion rate of HTO to OBT was determined for lettuce of about 0.20-0.24%h(-1). Nevertheless, even if it is equivalent to values already published in the literature for other vegetation, we have shown that this conversion rate, established by weekly samples, varies by a factor of 10 during the different stages of lettuce development, and that its variation is linked to the biomass derivative.