Modelling and assessment of the impact of radiocesium and radiostrontium contamination in the Thermaikos Gulf, Greece.

ABSTRACT

A radiological model for (137)Cs and (90)Sr dispersion in the marine environment of the Thermaikos Gulf, Greece, and the river catchments draining into the Gulf, is presented. The model, developed and implemented within the MOIRA-PLUS decision support system, integrates appropriate site-specific information. The model's performance has been tested using the available empirical (137)Cs activity concentration data in abiotic and biotic components of the gulf since the Chernobyl accident. Further, this paper describes the results of a modelling exercise performed within the IAEA's EMRAS II international modelling programme to estimate the environmental sensitivity of this characteristic Mediterranean coastal marine environment following radioactive contamination. The radiation doses to humans after a single hypothetical instantaneous deposition of 1000 Bq m(-2), assuming that all of their food intake from the marine pathway comes from the local environment, were calculated. The obtained results are consistent with estimates from other models for different coastal marine environments in the frame of the above-mentioned EMRAS exercise.