R. Periáñez

A particle-tracking method for simulating the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in coastal waters

A particle-tracking method has been used to simulate the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in the sea. Three dimensional turbulent diffusion and the interactions between water, suspended matter and bottom sediments are simulated using a stochastic method. Kinetic transfer coefficients, as in finite difference models, are used to describe the transfers between the liquid and solid phases. Deposition of suspended matter and erosion of sediment are also included in the model. The method has been applied to simulate the dispersion of 137Cs and (239,240)Pu in the English Channel and the results have been compared with those of a finite difference model. The results from both techniques are, in general, in good agreement.

Modelling the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in tidal waters—Part 1: Conceptual and mathematical model

Abstract A 2D four-phase model to study the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in tidal waters, in conditions of disequilibrium for ionic exchanges, has been developed. At disequilibrium conditions, ionic exchanges cannot be formulated using distribution coefficients k d . Thus, kinetic transfer coefficients have been used. The model includes ionic exchanges among water and the solid phases (suspended matter and two grain size fractions of sediments), the deposition and resuspension of suspended matter and advective plus diffusive transport. In the second part of this work, which is presented in a separate paper, the model is applied to simulate 226 Ra dispersion, discharged from a fertilizer processing plant, in an estuarine system in the south-west of Spain.

Environmental modelling in the Gulf of Cadiz: heavy metal distributions in water and sediments.

The Gulf of Cadiz (GoC) connects the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. An environmental study of the GoC is carried out through numerical modelling. First, a 3D baroclinic model is used to obtain the residual circulation and a 2D barotropic model is applied to calculate tides. The results of these models are used by a 3D sediment transport model which provides suspended matter concentrations and sedimentation rates in the GoC. Then heavy metal dispersion patterns are investigated using a 3D model which includes water-sediment metal interactions and uses the outputs of the hydrodynamic and sediment transport models. The metal transport model has been applied to simulate the dispersion of Zn, Cu and Ni introduced into the GoC from three rivers draining the Iberian Pyrite Belt, in the southern Iberian Peninsula. Results from the hydrodynamic, sediment and metal transport models have been compared with measurements in the GoC. In particular, the contamination of sediments collected along the southern coast of Spain is well reproduced by the model. Metal plumes reach the Strait of Gibraltar, thus the three rivers constitute a source of pollutants into the Mediterranean Sea.

Contamination and restoration of an estuary affected by phosphogypsum releases

The Huelva Estuary in Huelva, Spain, has been one of the most studied environmental compartments in the past years from the point of view of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) releases. It has been historically affected by waste releases, enriched in radionuclides from the U-decay series, from factories located in the area devoted to the production of phosphoric acid and phosphate fertilizers. Nevertheless, changes in national regulations forced a new waste management practice in 1998, prohibiting releases of phosphogypsum into the rivers. The input of natural radionuclides from phosphate factories to rivers was drastically reduced. Because of this there was a unique opportunity for the study of the response of a contaminated environmental compartment, specifically an estuary affected by tidal influences, after the cessation of the contaminant releases to, in this case, the Huelva Estuary (henceforth referred to as the Estuary). To investigate the environmental response to this new discharge regime, the specific activities of radionuclides 226Ra and 210Pb in water and sediment samples collected in four campaigns (from 1999 to 2005) were determined and compared with pre-1998 values. From this study it is possible to infer the most effective mechanisms of decontamination for the Estuary. Decontamination rates of 210Pb and 226Ra in the sediments and water have been calculated using exponential fittings and corresponding half-lives have been deduced from them. The cleaning half-life in the whole area of the Estuary is about 6 and 3.5 years for 226Ra and 210Pb respectively. The observed trend clearly shows that contamination of the Estuary by natural radionuclides is now decreasing and radioactive levels in waters and sediments are approaching the natural background references. This work attempts to evaluate whether it can be expected that the decontamination of the enhanced levels of natural radioactivity in the Estuary can be performed via natural processes.

Uranium and thorium concentrations in an estuary affected by phosphate fertilizer processing: Experimental results and a modelling study

Abstract The Odiel river, in southwest Spain, forms an estuarine system which is affected by waste disposal from a fertilizer complex. Uranium and thorium concentrations in waters and suspended matter, activity ratios and distribution coefficients, kd, have been measured along the river during two different tidal states. The results have shown that a radioactive impact is being delivered to the river, as well as a significant variability depending on the sampling point and the tidal state. Thus, a quantitative study of the distribution of radio-nuclides can be carried out best by means of a mathematical model. The model includes the partition of radio tracers between four phases (water, suspended matter and two sediment fractions) and has been designed for non-equilibrium conditions. Thus, radiotracer transfers are described in terms of kinetic transfer coefficients instead of Kds. The model simultaneously solves the hydrodynamic equations, the suspended matter equation (including depostion and resuspension processes) and the equations which describe the time evolution of radionuclide concentrations in each one of the four phases. The model has yielded good results in predicting U and Th concentrations in water and suspended matter, distribution coefficients and Th U mass ratios.

Modelling the suspended matter distribution in an estuarine system. Application to the Odiel river in southwest Spain

Abstract A numerical model which solves the advective-diffusive dispersion equation for suspended matter and includes the deposition and resuspension is presented. The model requires the simultaneous solution of the hydrodynamic equations under tidal dynamics and atmospheric forcing, using time steps of a few seconds. The model has been applied to the Odiel river (southwest Spain). The hydrodynamic module has been widely validated for neap and medium tides, whereas the dispersion was calibrated against the dissolved 226Ra dispersion pattern. This 226Ra is discharged to the Odiel river from a phosphate fertilizer factory. The model was able to reproduce the observed behaviour of the suspended matter in the estuary. The sedimentation rates have shown that a net, although slow, sedimentation is being produced. Sensitivity tests were inconclusive with respect to parameters describing settling and resuspension, as internal processes within the estuary are overridden by the high influx and efflux of particulate material from the sea.

Ra-isotopes around a phosphate fertilizer complex in an estuarine system at the Southwest of Spain

The presence of224Ra and226Ra in waters from an estuarine system which surrounds a phosphate fertilizer complex (southwest Spain) has been studied. The high activities obtained confirm that an important radiological impact from such industrial complex on its close environment is being produced. The influence of tidal oscillations and seasonal conditions on activity concentration has also been investigated.

Testing the behaviour of different kinetic models for uptake/release of radionuclides between water and sediments when implemented in a marine dispersion model

Three kinetic models for adsorption/release of (137)Cs between water and sediments have been tested when they are included in a previously validated dispersion model of the English Channel. Radionuclides are released to the Channel from La Hague nuclear fuel reprocessing plant (France). The kinetic models are a 1-step model consisting of a single reversible reaction, a 2-step model consisting of two consecutive reversible reactions and an irreversible model consisting of three parallel reactions: two reversible and one irreversible. The models have been tested under three typical situations that correspond to the source terms that can generally be found: instantaneous release, continuous release and redissolution of radionuclides from contaminated sediments. Differences between the models become more evident when contact times between water and sediments are larger (continuous release) and in the case of redissolution from sediments. Time scales for the redissolution process are rather different between the three models. The 1-step model produces a redissolution that is too fast when compared with experimental evidence. The irreversible model requires that saturation effects of the irreversible phase are included. Probably, the 2-step model represents the best compromise between ease and level of detail of the description of sorption/release processes.

Kinetic transfer coefficients for radionuclides in estuarine waters: Reference values from133Ba and effects of salinity and suspended load concentration

In estuarine environments there are important spatial and temporal changes in both salt and suspended load concentrations. An experimental procedure have been developed to produce kinetic parameters being representative of the natural environment studied, and we have investigated the effect of salinity and suspended load concentration to the kinetics of the uptake. These results are encouraged by recent advances in environmental modelling concerning to radionuclide dispersion in aquatic natural systems and involving non-equilibrium processes. Experiments are carried out with unfiltered water samples from the Odiel estuary (Southwest of Spain), with133Ba tracer to illustrate experimental procedures.

Kinetic modelling of the dispersion of plutonium in the eastern Irish Sea: two approaches

A new model to simulate the dispersion of plutonium in the eastern Irish Sea is presented. The model solves the 3D hydrodynamic equations using normalized σ coordinates in the vertical simultaneously with the suspended matter equation. Pu can be present in three phases: water, suspended matter and bottom sediments. Reduction and oxidation reactions are also included in the model, in terms of reaction rates, since Pu can be present in the marine environment in principally two different oxidation states. Two kinetic models are presented to describe the transfers of radionuclides between the liquid and solid phases: a one-step model consisting of a single reversible reaction and a two-step model consisting of two consecutive reversible reactions. It has been found that both models can properly simulate the contamination of the waters and sediments from the eastern Irish Sea due to the releases from the BNFL Sellafield nuclear fuel processing plant, since the outputs from both models are very similar and in agreement with observations. Also, both models can simulate the speciation of Pu between the reduced and oxidized forms. However, if the dominant source of radionuclides to the water column is redissolution from a contaminated sediment, a process that is actually occurring in the Irish Sea, it has been found that a two-step model must be used. Indeed, a one-step model predicts the redissolution from the sediment to be unrealistically rapid.