28 September 2021 – the Sellafield Ecotracer model

Zoom meeting, 18:00 CEST( Brussels, Amsterdam, Madrid)

Recording can be viewed on YouTube

Summary

This work, that Kieran did for his PhD in collaboration with SAMS, focuses on the use of Ecotracer to model the discharge of radiocarbno from the Sellafield nuclear reprocessig facility on the shores of the Irish Sea. This was a inter-disciplinary effort of ecosystem modelling, nuclear physics, radiochemistry, geology, environmental sciences, and statistics, to model the plausible propagation of radioactivity through the food web.

Publication

Tierney, K.M., Heymans, J.J., Muir, G.K.P., Cook, G.T., Buszowski, J., Steenbeek, J., Walters, W.J., Christensen, V., MacKinnon, G., Howe, J.A., et al. (2018). Modelling marine trophic transfer of radiocarbon (14C) from a nuclear facility. Environmental Modelling & Software 102, 138–154. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2018.01.013

Bio

Kieran Tierney is a research Associate at the University of Strathclyde, currently working on developing novel treatments for carbon-based radioactive wastes. The project aim is to determine the feasibility of smouldering orphan radioactive waste to produce a waste ash and to capture the radioactive gases emitted, including radiocarbon, via microbial induced mineral precipitation. His broader research interests are within environmental radioactivity and environmental pollution and ecosystem response.

ResearchGate