Progress on Proposed Project
Chernobyl Cooling Pond as Case Study
for Improving the Scientific Basis for Multimedia Environmental
Modeling, Risk Assessment, and Database Development
2011 Annual Public Meeting of the
Interagency Steering Committee on Multimedia
Environmental Modeling (ISCMEM)
November 28 - 29, 2011
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Outline
• Timeline of the Proposal Preparation and Overall Objective of
the Case Study
• Brief Information about the Chernobyl Cooling Pond
• Benefits and Relevance to the U.S. Federal Agencies and
International Agencies Missions
• Information about the International Meeting on ”Feasibility
Study of the Chernobyl Cooling Pond Decommissioning and
Remediation” organized by the ChNPP Administration
• IAEA Involvement and Recommendations
• Potential Case Studies at DOE sites
• Project Organization
2
Timeline
• February 2010 – Preliminary discussion of the proposal to NRC Staff
• April 10, 2010 – Submitted 1st draft of the proposal to ISCMEM
• June 10 and September 8, 2010 –
Presentation to ISCMEM Working Group 2
• September 16, 2010 –
Presentation to the ISCMEM Annual Meeting, Vicksburg, MS
• July 29, 2010 – Submitted a revised proposal which was uploaded to the
EPA Integrated Environmental Modeling Hub
iemHUB: http://iemhub.org/
• August 3, 2011– Presentation to joint meeting of ISCMEM WGs 1, 2, 3 and 4
 November 29, 2011 – Steering Committee vote to approve 1st
ISCMEM international test case
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Overall Objective of the Case Study
• Provide an opportunity for Federal Agencies to review
and select information from the long-term
observations at the Chernobyl Cooling Pond and the
surrounding watersheds, which can be used as an
analogue for improving the scientific basis and
developing linkages, in the areas of multimedia
environmental modeling, focusing on:
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parameter estimation and modeling uncertainty,
site characterization and monitoring,
human health risk and safety,
loss of natural resources,
cleanup, and evaluation of remediation technologies on a
large scale.
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137Cs Fallout
in Pond
Ukraine, Belorussia,Cs-137
Russia
Chernobyl
Cooling
ChNPP
Sr-90
•
•
Area ~ 23 km2 , ~ 108 m3 of water
Water is pumped from the Pripyat River to the
Cooling Pond
Sources of Contamination
• Dispersed fuel particles
• Heavily contaminated water from the reactor basement and soils.
• Total radioactivity >200 TBq, including 137Cs-80%, 90Sr-10%, 239,240, 241Pu-10%
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• Routine
releases of contaminated water into the pond
Chernobyl Cooling Pond Radio-Ecological Study
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•
•
•
Complete remediation of the Cooling Pond
would significantly damage the ecosystem
whilst not significantly reducing doses;
Phytostabilisation of some small areas may
be worthwhile;
Drawdown of water level should be as slow
as practicable;
Monitored natural attenuation is the most
environmentally sound remediation option.
• EU (INTAS); Royal Society
• AQUASCOPE--Aquatic modeling study
• AQUACURE--Countermeasures
• EU INCO – Copernicus
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RESRAD-BIOTA: A Tool for Implementing a
Graded Approach to Biota Dose Evaluation
(Argonne Lab)
Jim Smith -- School of Earth and Environmental
Sciences, University of Portsmouth, UK, Oleg
Voitsekhovich – Ukrainian Hydrometeorological
Institute, Kiev, Ukraine
Chernobyl Cooling Pond Decommissioning is an
Opportunity to Study the Effect of Changes in Climatic
Conditions on Contaminated Water Bodies
Normal scenario
Expected exposed area 58%.
137Cs- 78%, 90Sr--74%, Pu-85% will remain
under water in bottom sediments.
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Dry scenario
Expected exposed area 80%
Bugai et al. 2006
Radionuclide Transport Processes in the Chernobyl
Cooling Pond
Microbial
communities
Advection
Suspended
sediments
Uptake
Diffusion/Dispersio
n
Dissolved
radionuclides
Adsorption
Adsorption
Desorption
Radionuclides in
suspended sediments
Resuspension
Desorption
Sedimentation
Radionuclides in bottom sediments
Hot particles
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Modified after M.Zheleznyak
Case Studies Stemming from the Chernobyl
Cooling Pond Monitoring and Modeling
(1) Evaluation of hydrologic and geochemical processes for unsaturatedsaturated soils and bottom sediments;
(2) Modeling of coupled hydrological and biogeochemical processes,
including parameter estimation, aleatory, epistemic, and scenario
uncertainties;
(3) Design and implementation of appropriate site characterization and
monitoring techniques for highly contaminated soils and groundwater
- geophysical monitoring, natural and radioactive isotopic methods, remote
sensing;
(4) Assessing the efficacy of different remediation approaches including
monitored natural attenuation (MNA).
(5) DOE ASCEM project, NRC/EPA/USGS Integrated Environmental Modeling.
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Benefits and Relevance to the U.S. Federal and
International Agencies Missions
•
If endorsed by ISCMEM, Chernobyl Cooling Pond International case study will provide
the opportunity for collaboration between different Federal agencies, and international
organizations in accomplishing their missions associated with predicting the postaccident, long-term behavior of radionuclides and remediation of radioactively
contaminated sites.
– US NRC—ensure adequate protection of public health and safety, and to protect the environment;
– US DOE and DoD—advance science, engineering, and cleanup technologies to help ensure that it
meets its national environmental cleanup strategic goals; testing high performance computing
capabilities, parameter estimation, UQ, data management, visualization;
– US EPA—protect human health and the environment;
– US Army Corps of Engineering – evaluate watershed modeling codes, and
– USGS—provide information to effectively and responsibly utilize natural resources, and to protect the
health, safety, and well-being of the people.
– IAEA – develop recommendations for member states;
– European Network of Excellence in Radioecology (STAR): Chernobyl observatory.
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Meeting on ”Feasibility Study of the Chernobyl Cooling
Pond Decommissioning and Remediation” organized by
the ChNPP Administration (Sept 2011)
• Goals of the Meeting: Provide the background information and
direct the scientific organizations involved in the project.
• This project on the ChNPP Cooling Pond decommissioning was
stipulated by the Law of Ukraine 886-VI “On National Program of
Chernobyl NPP Decommissioning and Shelter object transformation
into environmentally safe system,” starting January 1, 2010.
• ChNPP Administration will fund the project. Partial funding will be
provided by IAEA.
• Tender to select a company to perform the Feasibility Study was
announced at the meeting.
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Meeting on ”Feasibility Study of the Chernobyl
Cooling Pond Decommissioning and Remediation”
organized the ChNPP Administration (Sept 2011)
Ukrainian Organizations Involved in the Project:
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State Special Enterprise “Chernobyl NPP”
Institute of Safety Problems of Nuclear Power Plants of the National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine
Ukrainian Scientific-Research Hydrometeorological Institute
Ukrainian Scientific-Research Institute of Agricultural Radioecology
Institute of Geological Sciences of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine,
Institute of Mathematical Machines and Systems of the National Academy of
Sciences of Ukraine
Institute of Hydrobiology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Scientific-Research Institute of Radiation Protection
Chernobyl Center for Nuclear Safety, Radioactive Waste and Radioecology, and
International Radioecology Laboratory
State Specialized Scientific and Industrial Enterprise Chernobyl Radioecological
Center (GSNPP ECOCENTER)
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The Most Critical Problem is Monitoring During
Structure and Main Types of Monitoring of the Chernobyl Cooling Pond
the Water Level Drawdown
Monitoring System:
1 – Center

Structure:
2 – Adjacent

1 – area
Center

2 –sediments
Adjacent area
3 – Bottom

3 – Bottom
MonitoringseMedia:
diment
•  Surface
water
Monito
ring media:
•
Groundwater

Surface water

Groundwater
•
Hydrobiota

Hydrobiota
•
Precipitation

Precipiatmosphere
tation
•
Near-surface

Near-surface
•
Landscape
atmosphere

Lanscape
2
3
2
1
2
2
3
2
2
After S.I. Kireev
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IAEA Involvement and Recommendations
• IAEA supported three missions of international technical experts
to Chernobyl (October 2009, July 2010, September 2011) to
initiate the development of a roadmap and modeling of
groundwater flow and contaminant transport for the feasibility
study of the Chernobyl Cooling Pond decommissioning and
remediation
IAEA Point of Contact: Horst Monken-Fernandes,
IAEA Waste Technology Section
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IAEA’s List of Suggested Tasks
Collate existing data of monitoring, modeling and
risk assessment of the Cooling Pond and
groundwater system.
Identify gaps in monitoring and modeling data and
risk assessment. Conduct research to address gaps.
Develop an improved monitoring plan and conduct
an initial experimental 1-2 m drawdown—
Stage 1 of Feasibility Study.
Consultation with
regulators and
stakeholders.
Key objectives: agree
on remediation
endpoints, gaps in
data/risk assessment
and action plan
Complete experimental drawdown and provide data for
Stage 2 Feasibility Study
NO
Regulatory approval for
complete, staged
drawdown
YES
Finish installation of a monitoring
system prior to full, staged drawdown.
Begin full drawdown.
IAEA report, 2009
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List of Potential Projects in Support of Cooling Pond
Decommissioning and Remediation
Potential Projects
Tentative
duration
1. Data collation and development of GIS/Database/Data Management
System
6 months
2. Risk assessment research, with focusing on fire risk/wind
resuspension, flooding, dam failure and surface water-groundwater flow
and radionuclide transport modeling and uncertainty evaluation.
2 years
3. Experimental (pilot) drawdown project and associated monitoring and
modeling; improved experimental/modeling assessment of remediation
technologies and monitored natural attenuation
2 years
4. Planning, testing and installation of an upgraded adaptive monitoring
system, including a timeline of expanding the system as the Cooling
Pond water level declines.
2-3 years
5. Monitoring and risk assessment, including modeling of impacts of
drawdown on ecology and radioecology of the area surrounding Cooling
Pond, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, and the Pripyat’ River System.
3-5 years
IAEA report, 2009, with changes.
Case Studies to Test DOE Field Remotely Operated
Monitoring Techniques
Savannah River PAR Pond
Oak Ridge Reservation--White Oak Lake
Constructed in 1958 as a Cooling Pond for the
Savannah River Site's P and R Reactors
After the water level drawdown in 1991:
– Exposed 5.3 km2 of contaminated
sediments.
– Mobility of the radionuclides was much
greater than expected (Hinton et al. 1999;
Whicker et al. 1999).
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–
Cs-137 concentrations increased, probably
resulting from the Cs-137 increase in
sediments.
Sedimentation rates and water turbidity
increased due to erosion processes.
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DOE EM Points of Contact:
Kurt Gerdes, DOE EM-32, Director,
Kurt.Gerdes@em.doe.gov
Mark Williamson, DOE EM-32, ASCEM Lead,
Mark.Williamson@em.doe.gov
Case Studies to Test DOE Field Remotely Operated
Monitoring Techniques
Savannah River Site
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•
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INL Soil and Surface Assay Systems
for Gamma, Beta, and Alpha
Radiation Sources
ADCON Telemetry-a realtime soil moisture
monitoring system (D-Area
Phytoremediation).
FDTAS-tritium analysis
system in surface and
groundwater in near realtime.
Sol-Gel Indicators for
Process and
Environmental
Measurements .
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Project Organization
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Lead Agencies and Coordinating Managers:
– DOE-EM—Kurt Gerdes and Skip Chamberlain
– NRC—Thomas J. Nicholson, Ralph E. Cady, Mark Fuhrman
Subject Area:
– Modeling and Uncertainty Evaluation, Parameter Estimation, Monitoring, and Risk Analysis
USA Agencies Potentially Interested in the Project:
– DOE, EPA, NRCS, DOD, USGS, US Army Corps.
International Organizations Potentially Interested in the Project:
– International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Institute for Radiation Protection (France).
Ukrainian Organizations Involved in the Chernobyl Cooling Pond Studies:
– Administration of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, National
– Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Institute of Geological Sciences, Institute of Mathematical
Machines and Systems, Hydrobiological Institute, Institute of of Safety Problems of Nuclear
Power Plants),
– State Nuclear Regulatory Committee of Ukraine, Radioecology Center,
– State Scientific-Technical Centre Nuclear Radiation Safety (SSTC NRS),
– Hydrometeorological Institute.
Data/reports/publications exchange and coordination –
– EPA Integrated Environmental Modeling Hub (iemHUB) – http://iemhub.org/, Gene Whelan,
US EPA.
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