SIMULATION OF THE ATMOSPHERIC TRANSPORT AND DEPOSITION ON A LOCAL MESO-SCALE AND REGIONAL-SCALE AFTER HYPOTHETICAL ACCIDENTS AT THE KOLA NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT/

An accident at the Kola nuclear power plant could cause a large releas e of radioactivity into the atmosphere. To illustrate possible effects on the environment, potential atmospheric transport and deposition ar e calculated for two different scales - the local/meso- and the region al, using two different models. A 3-dimensional meso-scale model, deve loped at the Kola Science Centre, and suitable for distances out to a few hundred kilometres, has been used for the local/meso-scale, and a model system based on the MATHEW/ADPIC code, for the regional scale. S ome consequences for the population have been estimated by using the M ACCS model. Calculated aerial radionuclide activity concentrations, gr ound contamination and consequences for the population of the Euro-Arc tic Barents region are discussed for two scenarios. The results for th e local scale show a considerable influence on the radionuclide ground contamination pattern from the presence of precipitation. The signifi cance of wet deposition is confirmed by the results for the regional s cale which also emphasise the importance of having access to high qual ity weather predictions in emergency response organisations. The impor tance of the specific Arctic nutrition pathways, not included in this study, is discussed. It is important to make further studies in order to investigate the significance of these pathways. (C) 1997 Elsevier S cience B.V.