Calculation Model for the Impact on Soil Due to Tritium Emission into the Atmosphere During Snowfall

Abstract

In January 1985, after each of three periods of snowfall, snow samples were collected repeatedly at 33 sampling locations in the vicinity of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center and the concentration of tritium in the snow-water was measured. The results of measurement have been published (Radiation Protection Dosimetry, Vol. 16, Nos. 1–2, pp. 95-100 (1986), Nuclear Technology Publishing). By parallel measurements of the intensity of snowfall it was possible to determine the tritium impact on the soil due to snowfall, expressed in Bq/m². The values obtained are considered here as the results of measurement of the tritium impact on the soil due to snowfall.A calculation model which takes account of the intensity of emissions of tritium into the atmosphere as well as of the meteorological situation was used to determine the tritium impacts on the soil at each of the 33 sampling locations and for each of the three periods of snowfall. the measured and calculated results are in good agreement.