| Summary: | Anthropogenic radionuclides are introduced to the global marine environment from a range of different sources, such as global fallout from atmospheric weapon tests and nuclear accidents as well as operational or accidental discharges from nuclear installations. Transportation of radionuclides in the marine environment depends on the physico-chemical properties and different oceanic processes. Long-lived radionuclides like 129I and 236U are commonly utilized as tracers of ocean currents due to conservative behavior and the relatively well-documented discharges from nuclear installations. Discharges of 129I and 236U from Sellafield and La Hague reprocessing plants can be used as model input in ocean models to predict ocean transport. These oceanographic models are used to study ocean processes, including climate changes such as ocean acidification and ice melting, and predict potential consequences of various contaminant releases to the marine environment. Regarding nuclear events, these models can be valuable pre-accident to simulate different scenarios to predict the transport and fate of radionuclides, while also contributing to emergency decision-making. Models can also be utilized post-accident to assess consequences and future measures. However, an oceanographic model needs calibration and validation before being used as an emergency preparedness tool. In the present work, a hydrodynamic ocean model in combination with an ocean transport model was utilized to simulate the ocean transport of Lagrangian particles representing 129I and 236U discharges released from Sellafield and La Hague.The ocean transport model is an open-source trajectory model called OpenDrift, developed by the Norwegian Meteorological Institute (MET). The model simulations aimed to improve the source term by investigating the source contribution of 129I and 236U originating from Sellafield and La Hague and to validate the transport model by comparing model estimations to observations. To validate OpenDrift, an extensive literature search ...
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