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Project List » Interdisciplinary approach for dynamic modelling of tritium transfer in crops

Interdisciplinary approach for dynamic modelling of tritium transfer in crops
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Acronym: Idei-65
Contracting Authority: Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding (UEFISCDI)
Number / Date of the contract: PCE-2011-3-0396 / 2011-10-06
Idei exporatorii
Project Manager: Dan Galeriu
Partners: -
Starting date / finishing date: 2011-10-01 / 2016-10-03
Project value: 1500000 RON
Abstract: Fukushima nuclear accident completely changed the vision regarding the nuclear energetics around the world, emphasizing both the increasing of safety and the decreasing of the radiological impact on biota and population. In the same time, a workshop which took place at Groningen, the Netherlands (March 2011, http://www.math.rug.nl/stat/models/) emphasized the weakness of the predictive capabilities of the mathematical models used in nuclear risk assessment and decision making for nuclear emergencies. Therefore, the international organizations involved in the nuclear activities supervising required both the safety increasing of nuclear reactors and the improvement of the radiological impact assessment models. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) decided to continue and to increase its activities in the field of nuclear risk assessment. To achieving this goal, IAEA coordinates MODARIA (MOdelling and DAta for Radiological Impact Assessment) programme (2012 - 2016, http://www-ns.iaea.org/projects/modaria/default.asp?s=8&l=116), dedicated to the increasing of the member states capabilities in order to acquire new data and to develop better radiological models. In MODARIA programme, it continues the activity of the working group "Accidental Tritium Release", coordinated by Dr. Dan Galeriu, who is also the manager of the present project of EXPLORATORY IDEAS. The development strategy of the present project was re-oriented in order to decrease the sources of uncertainty and to develop an upgraded model for operational applications. This involves the enhancement of the knowledge database of tritium transfer processes, the assimilation of the models used in different life and environmental sciences and the choice of the optimal model complexity and accessibility of model parameters. The meteorology, atmosphere-vegetation interaction, plants growth processes, water in soil, as well as the database regarding plants and soils characteristics for Cernavoda area is of major interest. The interdisciplinary approach is essential to define the transfer functions. The specific difference between tritium and its stable analogue (hydrogen) is considered both in water cycle and organic matter cycle. The main effort of this research is focused on the estimation of the assessment uncertainties for the meteorological variability and physiologic properties of the agricultural plants, as well. At international level, there is not a clear explanation of the organically bound tritium (OBT) formation during the night time and the present project will try some hypotheses regarding this topic. The final goal of the project is to develop a robust model, easy to adapt to Cernavoda conditions and easy to integrate in a complex model, including the atmospheric transport from the nuclear power plant to the receptor. The model will be operational and will serve the necessities of the Romanian nuclear energetics.

Objectives:

THE STAGES OF THE PROJECT AND DELIVERY DATES
1. The analysis of the OBT experiments and transfer processes; contribution to the IAEA technical documents (2011-12-15) Results
2. New approaches for tritium transfer processes in agricultural products; partial tests of the models, hourly time step for the evapotranspiration, the development of the conceptual model (2012-12-15) Results
3. The analysis of diurnal and seasonal behaviour of model predictions; uncertainty studies; new approaches for tritium wet deposition and integration of the previous models (2013-12-15) Results
4. Dynamic transfer of trtiated water from soil to plants; Organically Bound Tritium formation in agricultural crops in night time (2014-12-15) Results
5. Model documentation: the requirements for the operational application of the model; dissemination (2015-12-15) Results
6. Implementation in the model and cod of tritium dynamics in animals products (2016-10-03) Results

RESULTS
PUBLISHED ARTICLES
RESEARCH TEAM

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