The dispersion of 137Cs and 239,240Pu in the Rhone River plume: a numerical model

A numerical three dimensional model to simulate the transport of Cs and Pu by the Rhone River plume has been developed. The model solves the hydrodynamic equations, including baroclinic terms (that account for density variations) and a turbulence model, the suspended matter equations, including several particle classes simultaneously, settling, deposition and erosion of the sediment, and the radionuclide dispersion equations. Exchanges of radionuclides between the liquid and solid phases are described in terms of kinetic transfer coefficients. The dependence of these coefficients with water salinity is explicitly included in the model since it changes from freshwater to seawater values in the model domain. Computed activity levels in water, suspended matter and bed sediments are, in general, in agreement with measurements in the area. The model can also give a wide amount of information, as distribution coefficients for total suspended matter and sediments and for each particle class, fractions of radionuclides fixed to solid particles, and vertical profiles of radionuclides and distribution coefficients.