At the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, there was a very large release of radioactivity in a few minutes, followed by a slowly declining release rate over several months. The total release is estimated to have been about 5×107curies The winds carried the released materials all the way to Sweden, from which the first reports came that there had been a nuclear accident in the USSR.
For the purposes of this problem assume that there was an instantaneous release of 107curies of radioactive gases (and fine particles, which are assumed to remain in the atmosphere and not settle out). Then estimate the maximum ground level concentration of radioactive gases (curies/m3) when the radioactive cloud from the accident got to Sweden. Make the following assumptions:
(1) Ignore decay of the radioactive gases (i.e., assume their half-lives were infinite).
(2) Assume the distance between Chernobyl and Sweden is 1000 km.
(3) Assume that the wind speed was 3 m/s and the stability class C.
(4) Assume that the mixing height was 2000 m.
(5) Assume that mlXmg in the x direction(up and down the direction of the wind) has the same intensity as miXing in the y(crosswind)direction.