Assessment of wind characteristics and atmospheric dispersion modeling of $ ^{137}Cs$ in the barakah NPP area

Abstract

This study presented two methodologies about meteorological characteristics analysis and atmosphere dispersion modeling as a preliminary study for the optimal positioning development of environmental radiation monitoring system (ERMS) and safe evacuation under emergency condition. These methodologies were applied to Barakah city area in the UAE, where the construction of four units of APR1400 (Advanced Power Reactor 1400) nuclear power plant by the year 2017 is planned. The Weibull Probabilistic distribution function (PDF) was applied for the analysis of meteorological characteristics. The Weibull parameter results for the calculation of directional wind characteristics were determined using probabilistic distribution modeling in a preliminary study that evaluated for the position of ERMS in the Barakah nuclear power plant (BNPP) area. Using three-year-weather data modeling, the distribution frequency showed extreme discrepancies from the wind direction. North and west winds accounted for more than 90 % of the wind directions in the BNPP area. The Weibull parameters for wind direction, month, and season were estimated. The Weibull parameters c and k ranged from 6.74 to 10.67 and 3.01 to 7.41, respectively, when the calculation was carried out with wind direction statistics; however, k and c ranged from 2.28 to 7.55 and 6.56 to 11.24, respectively, when it was carried out with seasonal estimation. The minimum and maximum extreme directional wind speeds for return periods were estimated as 9.12 and 17.84 in the ENE and SSE directions, respectively, based on a 60-year return period. As the second methodology, atmosphere dispersion modeling was performed by computational simulation using meteorological, land-use and upper air data. For the acquisition of credible simulation results, annual meteorological data were used in the simulation during January to December, 2011, at the area of the BNPP. North and west winds accounted for more than 90 % of the wind directio...