Marine Radioactivity Studies in the Suez Canal, Part I: Hydrodynamics and Transit Times

This paper describes work carried out under the IAEA Project EGY/07/002 to study the dispersion of radioactive material in the Suez Canal. This effort is linked with the increased public concern about radiation safety through this important trade route. To follow the fate of radioactive wastes along this waterway, we had to solve the hydrodynamics of the water, governed mainly by tides, atmospheric forcing and the drift currents produced by horizontal salinity gradients and by differences in mean sea level (MSL) at the two entrances of the Canal. The hydrodynamics has been studied using both 1-D and 2-D modelling approaches, and a reasonable calibration has been possible from the data set prepared with the collaboration of the Suez Canal Authority. Dispersion of conservative pollutants has been preliminarily studied by using a 1-D-Gaussian approach. Thus, we are computing the path of the plumes and the time evolution of concentrations for different scenarios of discharges and under different seasonal conditions. The transit times can vary enormously during the year, ranging from a few days to several months, depending on the differences in MSL at the two entrances of the Canal.