Towards CFD Predictions of Radioactive Pollutants Dispersion Under Arabian Peninsula Environmental Conditions

This study focuses on the assessment of potential hazards arising from nuclear power plant incidents, drawing on the lessons learned from the Fukushima catastrophe. The release of noble gases, iodine-131, and cesium-137 during such incidents necessitates a thorough evaluation of their environmental impact. Existing computational models, based on Gaussian plume or regional Lagrangian approaches, often face limitations in predictive accuracy, particularly in the near-field region. These models may inadequately capture the physics of pollutant dispersion, either partially accounting for or entirely neglecting the nuclear plant’s buildings. Therefore, this study employs computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modeling to address these shortcomings. To achieve this ultimate goal, the CFD methodology is first validated, in this study, through two test cases, assessing its performance in predicting wind speed distribution, recirculation zone size, and turbulence level around a building, both with and without pollutant release. The validated CFD method proves to be effective in capturing local turbulent phenomena, underscoring the importance of selecting the appropriate Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) based turbulence model for accurate predictions of atmospheric dispersion in scenarios involving accidental release of radionuclides in nuclear power plants.