Impacts of C-uptake by plants on the spatial distribution of C accumulated in vegetation around a nuclear facility; Application of a sophisticated land surface C model to the Rokkasho reprocessing plant, Japan

Ota, Masakazu  ; Katata, Genki; Nagai, Haruyasu  ; Terada, Hiroaki   

Impacts of plant C uptake on (C) distributions around a nuclear facility were investigated by a land surface C model (SOLVEG-II). The simulation combined the SOLVEG-II with a mesoscale model and an dispersion model was applied to CO transfer at test operations of the Rokkasho reprocessing plant (RRP) in 2007. The calculated C-specific activities in rice grains agreed with the observations. Numerical experiment of chronic CO release from the RRP showed that C-specific activities of rice plants at harvest differed from the annual mean ones in the air, which was attributed to seasonal variations in atmospheric CO and plant growth. C accumulation in plant significantly increased when CO releases were limited during daytime, compared with the results observed during nighttime, due to extensive CO uptake by daytime photosynthesis. These results indicated that plant growth and photosynthesis should be considered in predictions of ingestion dose of C for long-term chronic and short-term diurnal releases of CO, respectively.