South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
South Arican Journal o Chemical Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/sajce
Estimation o public exposure during normal operation o unit-1 Barakah
Nuclear Power Plant using GALE and HOTSPOT
Muhammad Zubair a, b, *, Eslam Ahmed b, Donny Hartanto a, b, c
a
Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering, University of Sharjah, P.O. BOX 27272, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
b
Nuclear Energy System Simulation and Safety Research Group, Research Institute for Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, P.O. BOX 27272, Sharjah, United
Arab Emirates
c
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, One Bethel Valley Road, Oak Ridge, TN 37830, United States of America.
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: In August 2020, the rst Barakah Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) unit was connected to the grid and started
BNPP supplying electricity. The BNPP site consists o 4 pressurized water reactor units, and each unit generates
Radiological dispersion electricity up to 1400 MWe power. Concerning saety, the radiological assessment o the radioactive release and
Public exposure
the corresponding public exposure during normal operation is essential. In the present work, the radioactive
GALE
HOTSPOT
release during normal operation, in gaseous orm, is calculated considering the operating condition o the BNPP
by using the GALE code or gaseous orms. Then, the HOTSPOT code is used to simulate the radiological
dispersion, including the public exposure and Total Eective Dose Equivalent (TEDE). HOTSPOT code uses the
Gaussian dispersion model to provide near-surace releases, short-range dispersion, and short-term releases.
Finally, the results in the present work are compared with the values given in the Final Saety Analysis Report o
the BNPP. For typical operating circumstances, this study evaluated gaseous source terms such as iodine, noble
gases, radioactive particles, tritium, C-14, and Ar-41 and ound that TEDE values are within the authorized limits
or distances up to 80 kms rom the power plant.
1. Introduction and literature review in many, producing cancers in the sot tissues. Moreover, other radio-
active ssion products are also produced during normal operation. They
During NPP operation, many various kinds o radioactive products are absorbed by the air and dispersed in the environment as particulate
known as "source term" are produced and contained within uel pin. particles through the ventilation waste path. Thereore it is vital to
Amongst them, the gaseous FPs (ssion products) such as Iodine-131 assess the eective public dose ollowing the Standard Radiation Pro-
will easily release rom the uel pins when uel cladding ruptures. tection system. The dose is dened as the summation o a person’s
Thereore, gaseous FPs release should be avoided during NPP (nuclear eective internal and external dose over a year. Similarly, a collective
power plant) operation by careully implementing multiple barriers in dose is the summation o the eective dose over the entire exposed
the NPP through deence-in-depth measures. Furthermore, when a se- populated area rom all possible gateways (holdup tanks and ventilation
vere accident extends to containment ailure, which leads to an exten- paths) (Smith et al., 2002).
sive FPs gas release rom the NPP, all people surrounding the NPP should Previously, Sohrabi et al. (2013) assessed the public radiation
be evacuated immediately. Due to the high risk o nuclear radiation on exposure o unit-1 Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP-1) using
the population within and outside the nuclear reactor site, the released PC-Cream 98 computer code. PC-Cream 98 code generally estimates the
ssion products should be requently examined under the worst-case hazardous radiological data under the standard Gaussian Plume
scenario and normal operating conditions. The most crucial ssion Dispersion model. According to the calculations by PC-Cream 98 codes,
products rom NPP are noble gasses, especially iodinated compounds the average highest dose or a person in the NPP site is 14 × 105mSv/y.
such as I131 and I133. These iodinated compounds have a comparatively This dispersion is due to the aerosol particulates rom a stack under 600
very high release percentage ratio, and 30% o them can be absorbed by m distance. The liquid efuents are 5 × 107mSv/y. This research
the thyroid (ICRP, 1998). In addition, Cs134 and Cs137 are also released concluded that the radiological impact in the site region o BNPP-1 and
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M. Zubair).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajce.2022.06.013
Received 28 February 2022; Received in revised orm 13 June 2022; Accepted 30 June 2022
Available online 2 July 2022
1026-9185/© 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Institution of Chemical Engineers. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 1. Main actors or atmospheric dispersion.
Fig. 3. Methodology or the estimation o radioactive release.
Fig. 2. Gaussian plume model rom a point source.
Fig. 4. Release rate o the iodine during normal operating condition.
the individual is reasonable compared with the values given by the Final
Saety Analysis Report (FSAR-2007) and BNPP-1 Environmental Report.
design basis accident. To calculate the doses under regular operation
Kong et al. (2017) evaluated the ssion products released in the
using CAP88 code, the surrounding vicinity o the reactor within a
Korean NPP and gave comprehensive detail about the eect o the
radius o 30 km was distributed on 12 concentric rings with 16 dierent
radioactive exposure on the general public within the site o NPP.
sectors. Meteorological data such as requency distribution, velocity,
Assessment has been determined as the dose ater releasing radioactive
and wind direction were also analysed and applied. The result showed
particles rom each reactor unit. KDOSE-60 was used to estimate public
that the Maximum Total Eective Dose Equivalent (TEDE) and
living areas and plant members o NPP. KDOSE-60 consists o a pack o
Committed Eective Dose Equivalent (CEDE) indexes were 5.05 × 107
three programs. GAS code is used or the radioactive particles rom gas
Sv or a person and 1.58 × 103 Sv or collective dose, respectively.
efuents, LIQ code is or liquid efuents, and XQDQWQ is or public and
Such results around the BNPP-1 site were lower than the eective dose
sta members around the NPP radial site. According to the assessment
limit. Furthermore, these results were also compared with the dose value
report, tritium was the primary radioactive particle playing an active
given on the Final Saety Report (FASR) o BNPP-1. It was revealed that
part in gaseous and liquid efuents. Furthermore, an average eective
the HOTSPOT code overestimates the results by a ew percent. The
dose to individual person around the radial site was about 103 to 102
dierence was due to the meteorological condition and using dierent
mSv. Thus, although Korean NPPs released some particulates into the
computer codes over the years.
upper atmosphere, the subsequent dosages were signicantly less than
Anvari and Saarzadeh (2012) assessed the TEDE radioactive release
standard saety proportions according to the regulatory saety limits.
during both accidental and normal conditions rom Tehran Nuclear
Pirouzmand et al. (2015) assessed the radioactive release rom
Research Reactor (TRR). The radioactive release has been calculated by
BNPP-1 by using CAP88-PC code under the normal ordinary condition o
ollowing hypothetical accident using the HOTSPOT code (Homann and
the NPP, and the HOTSPOT code was used or the assessment during the
Aluzzi, 2013). The assessment o the dispersed radioactive materials in
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M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 7. Release rate o the tritium, C-14, and Ar-41 during normal oper-
ating condition.
Fig. 5. Release rate o the noble gases during normal operating condition.
Table 1
Fission product escape rate coecients (sec1).
Xe, Kr 6.5E-08
I, Br, Rb, Cs 1.3E-08
Mo 2.0E-09
Te 1.0E-09
Sr, Ba 1.0E-11
Y, Zr, Nb, Tc, Ru, La, Ce 1.6E-12
reactor designed by the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) with
an electrical capacity o 1400 MW or 60 years o a lietime or each unit.
The GALE code can calculate the gaseous and fuid efuents rom the
pressurized and boiling water reactors using the plant characteristics.
Meanwhile, the HOTSPOT code estimates the radioactivity rom atmo-
spheric efuents under the normal and accidental conditions o NPP.
HOTSPOT code used the Atmospheric Dispersion Model (ADM) and
Gaussian Plum Model (GPM) to estimate uranium, plutonium, and
tritium compound release. In this study, Total Eective Dose Equivalent
parameters are calculated rom the HOTSPOT code.
APR1400 is a cutting-edge thermal energy plant developed by
improving the OPR1000, Korea’s major power plant model. It was
Fig. 6. Release rate o the particulate mixtures during normal oper- constructed rom December 1992 to December 2001 as part o the G-7
ating condition. Project, which the government led. Innovation advancement was the
responsibility o KEPCO (Korea Electric Power Corporation). The
APR1400 is a nuclear power station with a capacity increase o 1000MW
the air under dierent parameters, e.g., wind velocity, requency dis-
to 1400MW and a design lietime extension o 40 years to 60 years.
tribution, and other environmental conditions, was evaluated. The
There are 241 uel assemblies in the core, each with a dierent amount
highest count o TEDE was 46 mSv at 0.3 km radial distance rom TRR,
o U-235 enrichment. It has been assessed as having advantages that go
which is less than the individual total annual eective dose limit (Bair,
beyond the inventive levels o Generation III nuclear power plants
1995).
developed by advanced nuclear countries. It boasts the world’s best
Bashter et al. (2015) assessed radionuclides released during an
security. The APR1400 standard plan included a strategy to respond to
accidental condition rom North Coast Nuclear Power Plant located on
quakes to meet all o the 0.3 g seismic requirements in bedrock and soil
the Mediterranean Sea. HOTSPOT code was used as an assessment tool.
conditions using the site envelope concept. Furthermore, the power to
The simulated results illustrated that the highest radioactivity rom the
adjust to external shocks such as re, food, and earthquake increased
atmosphere at a distance o 200 m rom the reactor site was 1 × 104
above and beyond by oering the quadrant ormat strategy auxiliary
mSv. At the same time, the concentration o the ssion products on the
building. In August 2006, APR1400 was initially used in the construc-
ground was less than 1 × 105 kBq/m2. Further examination indicated
tion o Shin-Kori Nuclear Power Plant Units 3 and 4. Since then, a total o
that although the concentration o Cs-137 and I-131 was minimal, they
six plants – Shin-Hanul Units 1 and 2, Shin-Kori Units 5 and 6, and Shin-
played a vital role in contaminating the environment.
Hanul Units 3 and 4 have been built. It was originally implemented in
In this study, GALE-86 (Chandrasekaran et al., 1985) and HOTSPOT
UAE BNPP Units 1–4, the rst export model o the Korean nuclear power
(Homann and Aluzzi, 2013) codes were used as an assessment tool or
station, in 2009, and Unit 1 is now ully operational (Korea Electric
the radioactive released during the normal operating condition o BNPP
Power Corporation (KEPCO) and Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co.,
in the United Arab Emirates. BNPP is an APR1400 pressurized water
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M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 8. Distribution or the TEDE rom BNPP or (a) iodine, (b) noble gases, (c) particulates, and (d) tritium and others.
Ltd. (KHNP), 2018; Zubair and Ishag, 2018). our models in the GALE codes. Gaseous efuents rom pressurized
water reactors are calculated using PWRGE. PWRLE uses PWRs to
2. Methodology compute liquid efuents. Similarly or the BWRs. The Fortran-based
program calculates the source term o radionuclides created by a nu-
In case o an accident, the radiation released rom an NPP has a clear power station during normal operation using a mix o input data.
signicant eect on the NPP’s public living. The consequences o these The HotSpot code was intended to provide emergency responders
radiations that belong to level 3 Probabilistic Saety Assessment (PSA) and planners with a quick, eld-portable collection o sotware tools or
(IAEA-TECDOC-1200, 2001) depend on the radiation composition, investigating radioactive material accidents. This code is also used to
strength, thermal energy, wind speed & direction, etc. To reduce the conduct saety assessments o nuclear sites. PLUME, EXPLOSION, FIRE,
harmul eects o these radiations, it is essential to predict the radiation and RESUSPENSION are our main programs that calculate a downwind
dose. Fig. 1 represents the important actors or atmospheric dispersion. evaluation ater a continuous or pu release o radioactive material, an
There are several models available or the simulation o the disper- explosive release, a uel re, or an area contamination event. Additional
sion process. The most widely used models are listed below: initiatives ocus on plutonium, uranium, and tritium emissions to speed
up the early evaluation o nuclear weapons accidents.
1 Gaussian model: this is the most commonly used model. It is
considered that waste products are distributed normally ollowing 2.1. Gaussian plume model
the Gaussian distribution.
2 Lagrangian model: this model assumed the propagation o waste This model is helpul or the assessment o radioactive release in the
products in a specic path. environment rom nuclear power plants. Fig. 2 represents the Gaussian
3 Eulerian model: according to this model, waste products can be plume model rom a point source by considering the wind speed towards
modelled in a three-dimensional rame. Typically, plane and volume a downward direction.
sources can be modelled using the Eulerian model. The mathematical orm o this model is shown in Eq. (1).
[ ( )]
The Gaussian model is the most applicable compared with the other Q 1 y2 H2
χ (x, y) = exp + 2 (1)
models as it describes in detail the radioactive release in the environ- πσy σz μ 2 σ2y σz
ment rom nuclear power plants. The other models are useul or specic
paths like plane or volume suraces.
The Gaseous and Liquid Efuents (GALE) consists o our codes that χ (x, y) = ground level concentration (Bq/cubic metre)
compute the gaseous and liquid efuent discharges rom Pressurized Q = emission rate (Bq/sec)
Water Reactors (PWRs) and Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs). There are x = downwind distance (m)
y = crosswind distance (m)
238
M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 9. Distances o the exposure rom BNPP or (a) iodine, (b) noble gases, (c) particulates, and (d) tritium and others.
Table 2
Results o TEDE (Sv/year) calculation using HOTSPOT code.
Radioactive Mixtures Distance (km)
0.3 0.6 1 2 6 10 20 40 80
Iodine 1.5E-7 7.2E-8 3.1E-8 9.1E-9 1.4E-9 6.2E-10 2.2E-10 8.1E-11 3.1E-11
Noble Gases 4.1E-6 1.9E-6 8.3E-7 2.4E-7 3.8E-8 1.7E-8 6.4E-9 2.6E-9 1.1E-9
Particulates 3.4E-9 1.6E-9 7.0E-10 2.1E-10 3.4E-11 1.6E-11 6.2E-12 2.7E-12 1.2E-12
Tritium and others 3.7E-6 2.1E-6 9.2E-7 2.7E-7 4.2E-8 1.9E-8 6.7E-9 2.4E-9 8.4E-10
σ y σz = horizontal and vertical standard deviation (m) 1.4
μ = mean wind speed (m/s) ν ΔT
H=h+d 1+ (2)
H = eective chimney height (m) μ T
In Eq. (1), the eective chimney height (H) is the sum o actual h = actual chimney height (m)
chimney height (h) plus a actor o exit velocity and temperature, rep- d = chimney outlet diameter (m)
resented in Eq. (2). ν = exit velocity o gas (m/s)
239
M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 10. (a) TEDE results as o downwind distance or iodine. (b) TEDE results as o downwind distance or noble gases. (c) TEDE results as o downwind distance or
particulates. (d) TEDE results as o downwind distance or tritium and others.
240
M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Fig. 10. (continued).
241
M. Zubair et al. South African Journal of Chemical Engineering 41 (2022) 235–243
Table 3 and others, with 30 m or the eective release height or those sources.
Atmospheric stability classes (A–F). We used 5.74 m/s or the wind speed with 290◦ in the direction and 50 m
Categories Description Categories Description in size or the wind, and the sun was high in the sky or atmospheric
stability. As shown in Fig. 8, the TEDE distribution or the our mixtures
A Extremely unstable D Neutral conditions
conditions o the radioactive sources a) iodine, b) noble gases, c) particulates, and
B Moderately unstable E Slightly stable conditions d) tritium and other mixtures produced rom the nuclear power plant
conditions amongst long distances, which we can determine rom it that the sources
C Slightly unstable F Moderately stable with long hal lietime eect on longer distances than the other radio-
conditions conditions
active sources, in Fig. 8 we can notice it in our case or the tritium and
others mixture that the eect or it reach 15 km and that is due to the
μ = mean wind speed (m/s) long hal lie time o the mixture. In Fig. 8 the red, green, and blue colors
ΔT= dierence between gas temperature with atmospheric are representing dierent distances rom NPP. In Fig. 8(a) and (c), the
temperature red region is 0.5 Km, green is 2Km and Blue is 7.5 Km. For the Nobel
T = absolute temperature o the gas (K) gases in Fig. 8(b), the red region is 1Km, green = 3Km, and blue= 13Km.
In Fig. 8(b) or tritium red region is 1Km, green = 3Km, and blue
Fig. 3 represents, the methodology adopted in this research. The =15Km.
radionuclides o iodine, noble gases, and the mixture o gases were Fig. 9 represents the distances o iodine, nobel gases, particulates and
investigated by using GALE sotware. The HOTSPOT code has been tritium rom BNPP.
utilized to study the dispersion o these radionuclides in the gaseous Calculated TEDE using HOTSPOT code is demonstrated in Table 2 or
orm only. Later on, the Gaussian model has been used to estimate the dierent distances around the BNPP until 20 km. As Table 2 presents,
radioactive release. the highest dose obtained in this work is 4.1E-6 Sv/y or the Noble gases
mixture at 0.3 km away rom the power plant, which is below the annual
3. Results and discussion limits o the order o 10 microSieverts (μSv) or occupational exposure o
the public (FANR, 2021).
3.1. Source term Fig. 10 shows the calculated results or the TEDE as a unction o
downwind distance or all atmospheric stability classes (A–F) or the
The source term during the normal operating condition o BNPP was our mixtures o the radioactive sources a) iodine, b) noble gases, c)
calculated by using the GALE-86 code (Cember and Johnson, 2009). The particulates, and d) tritium and others mixtures produced rom the nu-
working condition and the plant data are used as the code input, and the clear power plant.
quantity o the radioactive materials during normal operations can be The atmospheric stability classes (A–F) has been shown in Table 3.
estimated. In the normal operation, the radioactive materials exist in
both the primary coolant and the secondary system. The major sources 4. Conclusion
in the primary coolant include the ssion products leaking to the pri-
mary coolant and activated corrosion products. The radioactive in the Calculating the radioactive release public exposure during normal
primary coolant is removed continuously in the coolant treatment sys- operation in nuclear power plants is essential because there are saety
tems, including the radioactive gases. The leakage o the primary cool- limits or the radioactive exposure that nuclear power plants should not
ants through valves and pumps to the containment and the auxiliary exceed to protect the public. There are several models to simulate the
system contributes to the radioactive in the secondary system. In this dispersion o the radioactive releases, and in this study, the Gaussian
study, only the gaseous source terms were considered and they include Plume Model has been used. The radioactive release or unit 1 o BNPP
iodine, noble gases, radioactive particulates, tritium, C-14, and Ar-41, as was calculated in this study by using the GALE code. Then the HOTSPOT
illustrated in Figs. 4–7. The noble gas, Kr-85, has the highest release rate, code was used to show a clear demonstration or the annual TEDE that
about 4800 Ci/year, ollowed by Xe-131 m with a release rate o 2200 the our dierent mixtures produced rom unit 1 o the BNPP or
Ci/year. dierent distances reach 80 km away rom the power plant. The TEDE
The design basis source term is used or the design o the radioactive values are ound below the regulated limits. This study considered the
waste management system and or determining design lietime inte- gaseous source terms, including iodine, noble gases, radioactive par-
grated doses or the design specications o plant equipment. The design ticulates, tritium, C-14, and Ar-41 or normal operating conditions.
basis source term is based on design basis data used or calculating the
maximum reactor coolant activity as shown in Table 1. Declaration of Competing Interest
The expected or operating basis source term is used or describing
annual releases rom the plant to the environment on an average basis. There is no confict o interest in this research.
Site boundary doses due to releases rom the plant ventilation exhausts,
liquid discharges, and osite shipment o solid radioactive material are Acknowledgement
examples o calculations that use this source term. The expected source
term is based on a realistic model or reactor coolant activity during This research was supported by the Oce o Vice Chancellor or
normal operation as represented in Table 1 (APR1400 design control Research & Graduate Studies, University o Sharjah, under grant no. V.
document tier 2, 2018). C.R.G. / R. 1325/2021.
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