Atmospheric Dispersion Model for a Nuclear Accident using RAPS-K

The environmental and health effects of the transport and diffusion of pollutants released into the atmosphere and ocean due to a nuclear accident must be evaluated rapidly and accurately to ensure the safety of the surrounding population and ecosystem. Since the Fukushima accident in 2011, a web-based nuclear emergency support system named Radiological Accident Preparedness System in Korea (RAPS-K) has been developed to predict the dispersion of radioactive materials released into the environment and estimate dose assessment for humans. The system is composed of atmospheric dispersion, marine dispersion, and dose assessment models, along with a graphic user interface module. It can evaluate the dispersion patterns of radionuclides in the air and ocean, and the short-term and long-term radiological effects of a nuclear accident on humans. The atmospheric dispersion, marine dispersion, and dose assessment models have already been validated by model-to-model comparisons and measurements from the Chernobyl and Fukushima accidents. Especially, atmospheric dispersion model is connected with numerical weather forecast data produced by Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) in real-time and the air conentrations are rapidly calculated in the system. Atmospheric dispersion model named LADAS(Lagrangian Atmospheric Dose Assessment System) was applied to evaluate the behavior of radioactive material released into the air for the hypothetical nuclear accident. RAPS-K is now operating through a web Graphic User Interface (GUI) on Linux OS. The developed system covers the Northeast Asian and worldwide regions in the event of a nuclear accident.