Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/Z50421X/1
A modelling and data integration framework for radionuclide dispersion within the marine environment
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor MD Piggott, Imperial College London, Earth Science and Engineering
- Grant held at:
- Imperial College London, Earth Science and Engineering
- Science Area:
- None
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- None
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Management of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, in the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami-caused accident, has now progressed to the stage where treated cooling water is intentionally being released into the ocean through an offshore discharge pipe. This release is planned, and due to elevated levels of certain low risk radionuclides, such as tritium, it can be effectively monitored through an extensive offshore monitoring campaign. However, partly due to the migration of untreated material on the surface and within the ground of the site, additional pathways exist through which more hazardous radionuclides can reach the broader (marine) environment. These can also be identified through the offshore monitoring campaign. These can be termed unplanned releases, and they pose a greater challenge in terms of identifying their sources and transport routes. At present there is little to no high-resolution marine modelling of the site covered by this extensive monitoring network. The underpinning vision for this new collaboration stems from this gap and the timely opportunity that the Fukushima power plant accident, its ongoing management and in particular the recent initiation of treated water discharge and associated data collection represents. Moreover, it stems from the belief that data without supporting models, as well as models without data to ground them, can be considered anywhere from being of questionable value, to being outright dangerous. Given the critical importance of addressing the release of toxic materials into the environment and acknowledging the current lack of detailed modelling and model-data fusion efforts, it is imperative that the research community supports this endeavour. Given operational/planned releases, decommissioning activities resulting in accidental unplanned releases, and ongoing decommissioning and nuclear new build efforts worldwide, including in the UK, this issue extends beyond the Fukushima site. The partnership proposed in this seedcorn project will thus contribute to new knowledge, tools and research that will generate broader important impact. The aim of this initial seedcorn project is to work with our international partner on the first proof-of-concept steps towards developing an innovative modelling and data integration framework to predict, understand, and identify the dispersion pathways of radionuclides within the marine environment. This new framework will yield a step-change in the simulation accuracy of near-shore marine transport through a range of advanced numerical techniques, building on unique computational methods that can maximise the value of available observational data as well as provide insight into optimal sampling and data collection strategies.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/Z50421X/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Start Confirmation
- Scheme:
- Research Grants
- Grant Status:
- Accepted
- Programme:
- GPSF
This grant award has a total value of £82,582
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S | Exception - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £29,198 | £8,168 | £9,053 | £19,588 | £7,447 | £4,981 | £4,150 |
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