Marine Radionuclides and Impacts to Humans Case Study
The Challenge.
Radionuclides present a large range of behaviours in the marine environment, depending on their persistence and affinity to sediment. Their dose impact on humans and marine species requires models able to simulate their fate over large periods of time and specific areas.
Customer(s)
Nuclear industry
Environmental regulators
Methodologies and Approach
Westlakes Scientfic Conulting uses two complementary models to predict the long-term dispersion of radionuclides in North West European seas and the related dose to human groups and marine biota:
• MARISA is a 2km by 2km grid model of the Irish Sea that has been developed in Westlakes Scientific Consulting. It predicts the dispersion of radionuclides in seawater and sediment from routine liquid discharges, and calculates the dose to marine biota and human populations from marine pathways for periods up to 100 years. The model was successfully validated against large sets of environmental samples.
• POSEIDON is a compartmental model that covers the North-western European continental shelf seas for periods of observation of tens to thousands of years. The model was developed and calibrated by CEPN (France) under the MARINA II European project. The definition of the compartments corresponds to the fishing areas defined by the ICES.
Benefits
Given its fine grid resolution, the MARISA model is particularly suitable for assessing the radionuclide dispersion in specific areas of interest in the Irish Sea, such as fishing or natural protection areas. It has been used to estimate the dose received by local communities from consumption of seafood and exposure over intertidal sediments.
When looking at radionuclide transport and impacts beyond the Irish Sea, we use the POSEIDON model. This model allows us to extend our studies to all European seas and is invaluable in helping nuclear installations to comply with the recent OSPAR regulations on radionuclide discharges and their impacts on other European states.