Validation Study for an Atmospheric Dispersion Model, Using Effective Source Heights Determined from Wind Tunnel Experiments in Nuclear Safety Analysis

For more than fifty years, atmospheric dispersion predictions based on the joint use of a Gaussian plume model and wind tunnel experiments have been applied in both Japan and the U.K. for the evaluation of public radiation exposure in nuclear safety analysis. The effective source height used in the Gaussian model is determined from ground-level concentration data obtained by a wind tunnel experiment using a scaled terrain and site model. In the present paper, the concentrations calculated by this method are compared with data observed over complex terrain in the field, under a number of meteorological conditions. Good agreement was confirmed in near-neutral and unstable stabilities. However, it was found to be necessary to reduce the effective source height by 50% in order to achieve a conservative estimation of the field observations in a stable atmosphere.