GIS as a Decision Support Tool in the Area of Influence of the Nuclear Complex Angra dos Reis, Brazil

The outlook concerning the occurrence of industrial accidents has led to the implementation of response systems based on geoprocessing tools, which are widely adopted in emergency for such ventures, since they have helped and served as a support for decision making, as well as for the preparation of guidelines aimed at managing emergencies. Nuclear power plants, because they constitute types of industrial activities that present dangerous conditions and attention regarding security are characterized as hazardous, especially due to consequences that occurred from large accidents— such as Chernobyl (1986) and Fukushima (2011)—highlighting the importance to its negative impacts, since the occurrence of accidents at nuclear power plants may affect surrounding areas, thus exposing a set of elements that are part of the environmental dynamics that integrates the catchment area where this type of plant is situated. In this way, through an integrated view of the region where the nuclear complex is located in Angra dos Reis City (Rio de Janeiro State) and, also, by aggregating information that portray the geobiophysical reality of its surroundings, several elements were incorporated into a database developed in a virtual environment, in which was produced a geographic information system (GIS) that presents a complex of variables that, once considered, can enhance various analysis in order to support emergency situations and planning, as well as guidelines that help define actions from the occurrence of accidental events at the nuclear plant.Indisponível

A unified analytical solution of the steady-state atmospheric diffusion equation

A unified analytical solution of the steady-state atmospheric diffusion equation for a finite and semi-infinite/infinite media was developed using the classic integral transform technique (CITT) which is based on a systematized method of separation of variable. The solution was obtained considering an arbitrary mean wind velocity depending on the vertical coordinate (z) and a generalized separable functional form for the eddy diffusivities in terms of the longitudinal (x) and vertical coordinates (z). The examples described in this article show that the well known closed-form analytical solutions, available in the literature, for both finite and semi-infinite/infinite media are special cases of the present unified analytical solution. As an example of the strength of the developed methodology, the Copenhagen and Prairie Grass experiments were simulated (finite media with the mean wind speed and the turbulent diffusion coefficient described by different functional forms). The results indicate that the present solutions are in good agreement with those obtained using other analytical procedures, previously published in the literature. It is important to note that the eigenvalue problem is associated directly to the atmospheric diffusion equation making possible the development of the unified analytical solution and also resulting in the improvement of the convergence behavior in the series of the eigenfunction-expansion.Indisponível

Computational Decision Support Systems Applied to Decision-Making Process in the Emergency Planning of the Angra dos Reis Nuclear Power Complex – Brazil

Industrial accidents pose risks to the entire environment located in the area of influence of the enterprises, especially when they are affected by the atmospheric dispersion of pollutants emitted, as in the case of a nuclear power plant, where the concern with the evacuation of the population is the main priority in critical situations , which reinforces the implementation of actions to support emergency planning and its management, whose support tools, among them the computational modeling that, based on atmospheric models and geographic information systems, are essential in the decision making process. Thus, based on the Angra dos Reis nuclear complex and the impacts that may affect its surroundings, studies using the integrated use of computational platforms served to evaluate the risks and consequences of a hypothetical accidental event, including the calculation of the thermo- source of nuclear fuel, meteorological characteristics, mechanisms of atmospheric dispersion of pollutants, as well as socio-environmental aspects of the region. Meteorological data (wind regime) characterize the wind field from the WRF model, which subsidized the dispersion of radionuclides calculated in the HYSPLIT, information associated with socioenvironmental data (landslides, population density, etc.), incorporated in a GIS database. The results demonstrate the importance of the integrated use of computational systems as tools that support decision-making, potentializing the application of solutions that contribute to support actions and guidelines of planning and governance in emergency situations

Vulnerability Factors for Emergency Planning of the Angra dos Reis Nuclear Power Complex - RJ

The Angra dos Reis nuclear power complex, on the southern coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, has in its geographic space different aspects that integrate the environmental dynamics of its area of influence, where geological, meteorological and demographic factors characterize the region as an environment complex, especially with the projection of emergency actions from an accidental event, especially from the point of view of the evacuation of the population in the impacted areas, presenting particularities that contribute to act as a negative impact in emergency situations, mainly in the phase response to a possible accident. With the support of geographic information systems (GIS), analyzes were made between the susceptibility to landslides and their occurrences (inventory of years 2007-2011), associating the rainfall regime and population density, aspects that demonstrate the vulnerability of the region, especially along the BR-101 highway, with the potential to render escape routes unfeasible in critical situations. The integrated analysis of these factors pointed out that, together, such elements are important bottlenecks for emergency situations in the region, and should be included as critical factors to be analyzed in order to contribute to subsidize actions and guidelines that should be applied in local emergency plannin

Reassessment of the Goiânia radioactive waste repository in Brazil using HYDRUS-1D

In September 1987 an accident occurred with a cesium chloride (CsCl) teletherapy source taken from a cancer therapy institute in Goiânia, Brazil. Misuse of the abandoned source caused widespread contamination of radioactive material (about 50 TBq of 137Cs) in the town of Goiânia. Decontamination of affected areas did lead to about 3,500 m3 of solid radioactive wastes, which were disposed in two near-surface repositories built in concrete in 1995. This paper documents a safety assessment of one of the low-level radioactive waste deposits containing 137Cs over a time period of 600 years. Using HYDRUS-1D, we first obtained estimates of water infiltrating through the soil cover on top of the repository into and through the waste and its concrete liners and the underlying vadose zone towards groundwater. Calculations accounted for local precipitation and evapotranspiration rates, including root water uptake by the grass cover, as well as for the effects of concrete degradation on the hydraulic properties of the concrete liners. We next simulated long-term water fluxes and 137Cs transport from the repository towards groundwater. Simulations accounted for the effects of 137Cs sorption and radioactive decay on radionuclide transport from the waste to groundwater, thus permitting an evaluation of potential consequences to the environment and long-term exposure to the public. Consistent with previous assessments, our calculations indicate that very little if any radioactive material will reach the water table during the lifespan of the repository, also when accounting for preferential flow through the waste.Indisponível

Thermally and Dynamically Driven Atmospheric Circulations over Heterogeneous Atmospheric Boundary Layer: Support for Safety Protocols and Environment Management at Nuclear Central Areas

Ilha Grande Bay is located in Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The area is characterized by different land cover, complex topography and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean. These aspects make it susceptible to thermally and dynamically induced atmospheric circulations such as those associated with valley/mountain and land/sea breeze systems, among others. The Almirante \uc1lvaro Alberto Nuclear Complex (CNAAA) is located in this region, with a total of two nuclear power plants (NPPs) in operation in the Brazilian territory, Angra I and Angra II. Therefore, knowledge of local atmospheric circulation has become a matter of national and international security. Considering the importance of the meteorological security tool as a support for licensing, installation, routine operation and nuclear accident mitigation, the main aim of this study is the development of combined strategies of environmental statistical modeling in the analysis of thermally and dynamically driven atmospheric circulations over mountainous and coastal environments. We identified and hierarchized the influence of the thermally and mechanically driven forcing on the wind regime and stability conditions in the coastal atmospheric boundary layer over the complex topography region. A meteorological network of ground-based instruments was used along with physiographic information for the observational characterization of the atmospheric patterns in the spatial and time\u2013frequency domain. The predominant wind directions and intensity are attributed to the combined action of multiscale weather systems, notably, the valley/mountain and continent/ocean breeze circulations, the forced channeling due to valley axis orientation, the influence of the synoptic scale systems and atmospheric thermal tide. The observational investigation of the combined influence of terrain effects and meteorological systems aimed to understand the local atmospheric circulation serves as support for safety protocols of the NPPs, contemplating operation and environmental management. The importance of the study for the adequacy and skill evaluation of computational modeling systems for atmospheric dispersion of pollutants such as radionuclide and conventional contaminants can be also highlighted, in order that such systems are used as tools for environmental planning and managing nuclear operations, particularly those located in regions over mountainous and coastal environments with a heterogeneous atmospheric boundary layer

Cursos de geologia: expansão, interiorização e consolidação do ensino de geologia no brasil

A short time after the creation of the first Geology courses in Brazil (in 1957 with the pioneers in the University of São Paulo and in the Federal Universities of Ouro Preto, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Sul, and then in the following year in the Federal Universities of Bahia and Rio de Janeiro), there arose other initiatives that spread almost twenty Geology courses throughout Brazil. In addition to expanding the Geology teaching in the South, Southeast and Northeast regions, these initiatives succeeded in allowing access to geological education for the population in the North and Central-west of Brazil. In the 1960s, the courses in the Federal University of Para in Belém (1964), University of Brasilia (1965) and São Paulo State University in Rio Claro (1969) were implanted. In the following decade, the courses in the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro in Seropédica (1970), the Federal University of Ceará in Fortaleza (1970), the University of Rio dos Sinos in São Leopoldo (1973), the Federal University of Paraná in Curitiba (1973), the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte (1973), the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus (1976), the Federal University of Mato Grosso in Cuiabá (1976), the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Natal (1976), and the State University of Rio de Janeiro in Rio de Janeiro (1977) were all created. At the close of the twentieth century, the course was implanted in the State University of Campinas (1998). Now, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, new Geology courses are being implanted, accentuating the movement inland of Geology teaching in Brazil. The Federal University of Pará began a new course in its campus in Marabá in the south-east of Pará and the Federal University of Bahia implanted a new course in its campus in Barreiras in the west of Bahia. Finally, the Federal Universities of Sergipe, Espírito Santo and Roraima commenced Geology courses in Aracaju, Alegre and Boa Vista, respectively. This chapter will present the synthesis of the Geology courses which, over the last decades of the twentieth century, contributed to the expansion of Geology teaching in the country, taking it to every region and giving opportunities to a large number of Brazilian citizens to realize their dreams and tread the paths of their professional vocation