Modelling the release to the Kara Sea of radioactive waste from the icebreaker Lenin: Version II

In progressing its work for the International Arctic Seas Assessment Project (IASAP), under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Source Term Working Group has developed a FORTRAN model to predict a radiation release profile into the Kara Sea from reactor fuel and activated components of the nuclear icebreaker Lenin. The model accounts for the degradation of containment materials through corrosion and other mechanisms, and predicts annual release rates to 4500 years into the future. Version I of the model was developed as a spreadsheet program from the original data gathered by the Working Group and the results were published by Timms et al. (1994); revised information on the method of disposal necessitated a change to the program, which is presented in this paper as Version II. The model is being applied to other marine reactors dumped in the Kara Sea in a programme of work for the IASAP aimed at assessing the collective release profile from all significant dump sites in this region.