Modelling the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in tidal waters—Part 1: Conceptual and mathematical model

A 2D four-phase model to study the dispersion of non-conservative radionuclides in tidal waters, in conditions of disequilibrium for ionic exchanges, has been developed. At disequilibrium conditions, ionic exchanges cannot be formulated using distribution coefficients kd. Thus, kinetic transfer coefficients have been used. The model includes ionic exchanges among water and the solid phases (suspended matter and two grain size fractions of sediments), the deposition and resuspension of suspended matter and advective plus diffusive transport. In the second part of this work, which is presented in a separate paper, the model is applied to simulate 226Ra dispersion, discharged from a fertilizer processing plant, in an estuarine system in the south-west of Spain.