The Gaussian plume model is widely used to calculate the concentration of radionuclide release to flat terrain in the nuclear power plant. This model assumes that the terrain is flat. So, predicting the dispersion of radionuclide releases to region of complex terrain is difficult. Because plume patterns are changeable by terrain-induced processes the plume behavior must be modified by terrain effects.
In this study, modified Gaussian plume model used for estimation of concentrations of plume near an isolated hill or well-defined segment of hills. In addition, a computer code for an atmospheric transport and diffusion model (KTDM) considering terrain effect are developed. To verify the code results, KTDM has been compared with an EPA officially certified code, CTDMplus for a typical isolated hill.
The results show that terrain factors at various isolated hills are derived from the meteorological conditions(wind speed, ambient temperature) and terrain features(hill top elevation, major axis length of hill, minor axis length of hill). The distributions of the concentration at the ground-level and terrain surface show the increasing peak concentrations expected over terrain beyond those concentrations that would have been expected for the same meteorological conditions over flat terrain.
