A comparative study for the atmospheric dispersion characteristics of two proposed sites for nuclear power plant in Tunisia

Riadh Souissi; Tawafik Faten; Ramadan AbuBakr; Reguigui Nafaa

Abstract

Countries around the world are considering the adoption of nuclear power due to its majoreconomic advantage with a low greenhouse gases emission, which is vital for climate changemitigation. So, Tunisia is considering adding nuclear energy to its energy sources in order toaddress its energy crisis. In Tunisia, two sites are preselected for Nuclear Power Plant (NPP)implantation: Marsa-Dhouiba site in the far north of the country (N3716, E0929) and Skhira sitein the South-Est (N3415, E1003). According to standard practices and regulatory requirements,the main objective in site evaluation for NPPs in terms of nuclear safety is to protect the publicand the environment from the radiological consequences of radioactive releases due to normaloperation and accidents. The aim of this work is to study the impact of routine atmosphericradioactive discharges from the proposed NPPs for each site. To achieve this goal, ameteorological description of each site is developed, including descriptions of the basicmeteorological parameters, such as wind speed and direction, air temperature, precipitation,humidity and atmospheric stability parameters. The hourly meteorological conditions of eachsite for one complete year is analyzed to show the points of convergence and points of variationbetween the characteristics of the two sites based on atmospheric dispersion. The monthly windroses of each site are also evaluated. The impact of routine discharge is estimated by applyingthe PC-CREAM 98 computer code, where the concentration of radionuclide discharge in the airin Bq/m3, the deposition rate in Bq/m2s and the cloud gamma dose Nuclear power makes itpossible to fight against global warming because it produces much less CO2 than oil, naturalgas and coal Sv/y have been predicted for each site.Keywords: Pc-Cream, Normal Operation, Meteorological Description, Impact Assessment, Nuclear Power Plants.R. Souissi, F Tawfik, A. Ramadan, N.Reguiguia. A Comparative Study For TheAtmospheric Dispersion Characteristics OfTwo Proposed Sites For Nuclear PowerPlant In Tunisia. Research & Reviews:Journal of Ecology. 2019; 8(2): 1–13p.