Article

RODOS meteorological pre-processor and atmospheric dispersion model DIPCOT: a model suite for radionuclides dispersion in complex terrain

¹ NCSR Demokritos, Institute of Nuclear Technology and Radiation Protection, Environmental Research Laboratory, 15310 Aghia Paraskevi, Greece
² Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Western Macedonia, Bakola & Sialvera, 50100 Kozani, Greece
³ Institute of Mathematical Machines and Systems Problems, NAS of Ukraine, Ukraine

Abstract

The Meteorological Pre-Processor (MPP) of the Decision Support System RODOS acts as interface between the incoming meteorological data from stations and/or prognostic models and the Atmospheric Dispersion Models (ADMs) used for predicting the spread of the accidentally emitted radionuclides. The MPP includes a diagnostic Wind Field Model (WFM) to ensure mass conservation of the calculated wind field. Its output is usable by simple and complex ADMs and it is applicable for highly complex topography and from micro- to meso-scales. The MPP has been tested for both real and artificial flow fields and it has been optimized to function with very short execution times and to give the most reasonable results under all terrain complexity and atmospheric stability conditions. DIPCOT (DIsPersion over COmplex Terrain) is a Lagrangian Puff / Particle model that has been implemented in RODOS to simulate radionuclides atmospheric dispersion over complicated terrain. For this purpose, it uses a certain number of fictitious puffs/particles which are assumed to move with the mean wind flow plus a random velocity component to simulate turbulent diffusion. The calculation of the gamma radiation dose rates in air due to the radioactive plume is calculated by a very fast method that takes into account the inhomogeneous 3-dimensional cloud shape. DIPCOT has been evaluated by comparisons to widely used real-scale experimental data sets: Copenhagen, Prairie Grass, Indianapolis and Mol. The integration of the above models greatly enhances the applicability of the RODOS system.