A SIMPLE FORMULA TO PREDICT APPROXIMATE INITIAL CONTAMINATION OF LAKEWATER FOLLOWING A PULSE DEPOSITION OF RADIONUCLIDE

The objective of this note is to suggest a simple approximate mathemat ical formula to predict the initial contamination of lakes following a single pulse of radionuclide deposition on the lake water surface. To estimate the initial concentration of Cs-137 in lake water averaged o ver a period of few weeks, the following expression was suggested: C-w = D/(h+h(Delta)), where D is the radionuclide deposition, h is the av erage depth of the lake and h(D) is a parameter depending on the sedim ent characteristics. Using a generic value of h(Delta) = 6 m, the abov e formula was successfully applied to some European lakes contaminated following the Chernobyl accident.