Radionuclide Transport in a Bukhta after a Radiation Accident

Radioactive contamination of bukhtas and bays on the Kola Peninsula and Novaya Zemlya and in the Far East

“…Radionuclide transport occurs in the water by means of turbulent diffusion and advection. Radionuclides flow from the water into the bottom deposits by means of settling of suspensions and bioagitation [6,7]. These two processes are slow and, as a rule, take years [6].…”

“…There are many works, containing actual data and their analysis, on the radioactive contamination of bays and bukhtas [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Summary works which present a quite complete picture of the contamination of seas and oceans bordering our country have been published in the last few years [8,9].…”

“…This situation is analyzed in [7], where the coefficients of turbulent diffusion, the rate of settling of a suspension, and the intensity of radiation sources are determined from measurement data.…”

“…There are few data on turbulent diffusion in bukhtas. Comparing the measurements of the radionuclide distribution in water after an accident in bukhta Pavlovskogo [4] with a mathematical model shows that the coefficient of horizontal turbulent diffusion K r is small -(0.2-4.4)·10 -4 m 2 /sec, and the coefficient of vertical turbulent diffusion K z is approximately 10 times smaller [7]. Data on the spreading of 137 Cs over a two-year period in bukhta Konyushkova from a source [9], which can be taken as approximately lineal, also gives low values K r = (6-12)·10 -4 m 2 /sec.…”

“…• the distribution of radionuclides in the water in most bukhtas is relatively uniform; an exception is bukhta Pavlovskogo, where the nonuniformities of the distribution of radionuclides in water are large [4,7]; • the level of turbulent diffusion in bukhtas can be low. These facts need to be explained.…”