A three-dimensional model for the dispersion of radioactive substances in marine ecosystems. Application to the Baltic Sea after the Chernobyl disaster

Title: A three-dimensional model for the dispersion of radioactive substances in marine ecosystems. Application to the Baltic Sea after the Chernobyl disaster

Author: M. Toscano-Jimenez, R. García-Tenorio

Reference: Ocean Engineering, Volume 31, Issues 8–9, June 2004, Pages 999-1018

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.oceaneng.2003.11.003

Keywords: 3-D model; Diffusion scales; ¹³⁷Cs; Chernobyl; Baltic Sea

Abstract: A 3-D dispersion model has been developed to simulate the dispersion of nuclear contaminants in marine ecosystems. This model is characterized by presenting high spatial resolution, by taking into account the possible sedimentation of a fraction of the contaminants, and by formulating the diffusion processes using an original approach.

The model has been applied and validated taking the Baltic Sea as its scenario, and using the ¹³⁷Cs originating from the Chernobyl accident as the substance which experienced the dispersion. The simulation of a year’s dispersion of the ¹³⁷Cs in the Baltic sea (just after the Chernobyl accident) has been performed.

URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0029801804000046