title: The behaviour of137Cs in the North Atlantic Ocean assessed from numerical modelling: Releases from nuclear fuel reprocessing factories, redissolution from contaminated sediments and leakage from dumped nuclear wastes.
abstract: A Lagrangian model which simulates the dispersion of137Cs in the North Atlantic has been developed. The model includes water/sediment interactions. It has been tested comparing calculated and measured137Cs concentrations in water and sediments of the European Shelf resulting after the releases from the nuclear fuel reprocessing plants of Sellafield and La Hague. Some additional numerical experiments have been carried out. First, the redissolution of137Cs from contaminated sediments after the reduction in releases from the reprocessing plants has been studied. This allowed to calculate effective half-lives of137Cs in several sub-basins. Later, potential leakage of137Cs from dumped nuclear wastes in several locations of the Atlantic has been investigated. Even in worst-case scenarios, these leakages should not lead to any radiological implications.
authors.affiliation: Dpt Física Aplicada I, ETSIA Universidad de Sevilla,Ctra Utrera km 1, Sevilla 41013, Spain. Electronic address: rperianez@us.es.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Periáñez
authors.affiliation: KAERI Daedeok-Daero,989-111Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Suk
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.affiliation: KAERI Daedeok-Daero,989-111Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Il
authors.initials: BI
authors.lastname: Min
mesh_terms: D001267:Atlantic Ocean; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009678:Nuclear Energy; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D011850:Radioactive Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D011850:Radioactive Waste; D014875:Water Pollutants, Radioactive
keywords: Caesium; Dumped nuclear waste; Lagrangian model; North Atlantic; Sediments