JRODOS was used to simulate the dispersion of airborne radioactive material from a point source over the period 2012–2015. In total, 1331 radioactive plumes were simulated with the objective to ...investigate the influence of changes in meteorological conditions in the performance of the monitoring network. For this purpose, the existing set of 84 monitoring stations included in the EUropean Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) system in an area of 200 km around the source point is taken as reference. A methodology is presented for quantitative evaluation of the variability of the number of stations affected, the time of the first detection, the maximum registered and differences between the maximum values match in the network and in the simulated plumes. The results show seasonal differences in all of these parameters according to changes in the size and shape of the affected area due to meteorological conditions. There are large differences in the number of monitoring stations affected by the plumes, from 2 to 74; in the timing and location of the first alert given by the network, from 1 to more than 5 h and faster along the west-east axis from the source; and in level of maximum gamma dose rate detected by the monitoring stations, from 0.17 nSv/h in summer to 0.22 nSv/h in autumn. These results show the need to consider this type of analysis over the years in the design of monitoring networks and in the development of nuclear emergency preparedness and response (EP&R) plans.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
This study aims at analysing the performance of the European Radiological Data Exchange Platform (EURDEP) at identifying, delineating, and tracking different radioactivity clouds moving across a ...territory. To this purpose, the atmospheric dispersion of 21 hypothetical STs, calculated by the Modular Accident Analysis Program (MAAP) code, has been simulated under the same meteorological scenario by the JAVA-based RODOS decision support system (JRODOS). EURDEP's performance is evaluated using spatial and temporal parameters. The present analysis shows a large impact of the total amount of activity and the timing of the release peak on EURDEP's performance. Monitoring stations are able to detect quite rapidly the release (first alarm), and presents more variation in the time needed to detect the peak, and to delineate and track the plume. A two-dimensional analysis is suggested to illustrate strengths and weaknesses of EURDEP to face different types of STs. These results highlight the need to link the understanding of ST characteristics with meteorological conditions to limit the environmental and health effects associated with radioactive emissions into the atmosphere. The present study aims at presenting a methodology to analyse the performance of EURDEP in other territories.
•Evaluation the performance of the EURDEP system under different model predictions.•Atmospheric dispersion of 21 source terms combining JRODOS and MAAP.•Evaluation the network design in the early detection of radioactivity in the atmosphere.•Methodology to evaluate gamma dose rates networks.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
After the nuclear reactor accident in Chernobyl in 1986, most countries of the European Union (EU) established monitoring networks measuring outdoor
γ
-dose rates for early warning. The data are ...composite values
γ
-dose rate due to terrestrial, cosmic and artificial radiation sources, and in most cases also include some instrument background. While EURDEP is mainly designed for exchanging and stocking data during radiological emergencies, the data it is storing in its database may potentially contain valuable information about spatio-temporal variations of the
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222
source term which can be used for the validation of atmospheric transport models and other atmospheric tracer applications. The use of
γ
-dose rates as a proxy for outdoor radon concentrations is indeed possible if one can extract the terrestrial
γ
-dose rate contribution from the values reported in EURDEP.
It is the purpose of this paper to discuss the preparation of the terrestrial
γ
-dose rates using EURDEP data and to present seasonal maps of terrestrial
γ
-dose rates in Europe. Such maps could be used for the preparation of
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222
source term which can be used for the validation of atmospheric transport models as well as for exploring variations in soil moisture content, an important parameter in flood prediction. These applications are the focus of the ongoing studies, but beyond the scope of this paper. In this paper, we show how the terrestrial
γ
-dose rate can be derived from the emergency monitoring data and two seasonal maps of
γ
-dose rates at the European scale are produced using geostatistics.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
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