Fukushima radiation: Modeling shows limited spread in ocean
APR 05, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025193
Science : Daily computer simulations indicate that the radioactive water being released by the Fukushima power plants is still restricted, for the most part, to areas near the coast. The International Atomic Energy Agency asked the SIROCCO group, at the University of Toulouse in France, to run its SYMPHONIE-NH ocean model centered on the Fukushima plant. Daily simulations are posted on SIROCCO’s website . The site cautions that these models are only meant to provide “scenarios of dispersion” and not quantitative data on radioactivity in the sea. However, the models thus far confirm what oceanographers thought would be the case: The highest concentrations of radionuclides in the modeling thus far are within about 5 kilometers of the shore.
© 2011 American Institute of Physics
