Environmental behavior of tritium released to the atmosphere in winter

Conference · Sun Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1992 · Fusion Technology; (United States)

OSTI ID:5141726

Davis, P A; Cornett, R J; Killey, R W.D.; Wood, M J; Workman, W J.G. ^[1]

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1. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Chalk River, ON (Canada). Chalk River Nuclear Labs.

An accidental release of HTO to the atmosphere from a reactor at the Chalk River Laboratories was assessed in a timely and efficient manner using a combination of predictive modelling and environmental sampling. A simple Gaussian plume model performed well in predicting the concentration of HTO in air. Doses to workers and to members of the public were well below acceptable levels at all times during the incident. This paper reports that the release was turned to advantage to study tritium behavior in the winter environment. HT concentrations were measured in aid, falling snow, vegetation and the snowpack at many locations during and after the release. The rate of HTO deposition to snow is greatly enhanced when snow is falling. The rate of new snow accumulation exceeded the rate of HTO diffusion in snow, so that the snowpack retained essentially all of the tritium deposited to it until spring melt occurred. Snow core data were therefore used as a surrogate for air concentrations to study the dispersion of the airborne plume, which was strongly affected by the topography of the Ottawa River Valley.

• OSTI ID: 5141726
• Report Number(s): CONF-910920-; CODEN: FUSTE
• Journal Information: Fusion Technology; (United States), Vol. 21:2; Conference: 4. topical meeting on tritium technology in fission, fusion, and isotopic applications, Albuquerque, NM (United States), 29 Sep - 4 Oct 1991; ISSN 0748-1896
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
CHALK RIVER NUCLEAR LABS
RISK ASSESSMENT
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
RADIONUCLIDE MIGRATION
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
RELEASE LIMITS
CANADA
GAUSS FUNCTION
MEASURING METHODS
PERSONNEL
PLUMES
PUBLIC HEALTH
REACTOR ACCIDENTS
SAMPLING
SNOW
ACCIDENTS
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
ATOMIC ENERGY OF CANADA LTD
CANADIAN ORGANIZATIONS
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
ENVIRONMENTAL TRANSPORT
FUNCTIONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MASS TRANSFER
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NORTH AMERICA
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
540130 - Environment
Atmospheric- Radioactive Materials Monitoring & Transport- (1990-)
560101 - Biomedical Sciences
Applied Studies- Radiation Effects- Dosimetry & Monitoring- (1992-)
990200 - Mathematics & Computers