Three-Dimensional Modeling of Radionuclide Transport in Inland Waters

A 3D hydrodynamic model is applied to simulate the radionuclide concentration distribution in typical receiving waters due to discharges from nuclear power plants. For a receiving reservoir, two representative hydrologic conditions are considered to produce water currents, namely, extremely low water level condition and normal water level condition. The boundary condition of the hole-outflow through the dam is well dealt with in reservoir modeling. The similar hydrologic conditions are also used for modeling the receiving river. Due to the much large river flow, effects of the half-life decay coefficient on the transport and fate of radionuclide discharge in receiving water are extensively examined. The effectiveness of the 3D model in producing the reservoir current patterns and hence the passive decay mass transport and fate is demonstrated.