Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences

Radiation Safety and Radioactive Waste Management Course

(Lecture 2)
The Lowest Layer Troposphere ( the main focus )
The properties of troposphere are of the greatest significance since it contains the air that we breathe the air in which
all weather processes occur and the air in which all the pollutants are diluted and dispersed, thus it is the chief focus in
effluent dispersion phenomenon.
In olden days the exhaust gas from industry was released into the air directly using the simplest means. With the
development of industry there is an accompanied increase in the quantity of gaseous and particulate wastes from
individual sources. The combined output from all the sources resulted in intolerable conditions in many communities.
This was so because the effluent was insufficiently diluted before the population experiences it. This situation
compelled to determine efficient means to clean up the effluent before it is released. The other alternate is to dilute
the exhaust gases before they can cause harm. It has been found that a single source can very effectively dilute its
pollutants by releasing them from a sufficiently high level. This method relies on the turbulent mixing of the air to
dilute the effluent. The dilution may be achieved by a factor of 100 or more, before it comes near the ground. Thus the
idea of the smokestack or exhaust stack was born. These may range from short fireplace chimney for domestic
residence to the impressive tall cylindrical stacks reaching upward some 300m high beside some modern electrical
power generating plant. Some can be seen in PINSTECH complex e.g. besides the containment dome of PARR-I or in
the way to PIEAS from Islamabad highway, the tall chimneys on brick kilns.
Smoke plume is visible whereas radioactive plume is not, yet there is usually associated small emission of radioactivity
from the stacks of all sorts of nuclear facilities during their normal operation. These emissions are mostly consisting of
fission product gases. Considerable radioactive releases may take place from them during the course of an accident.
For assessment of environmental impact of such releases, it is of prime importance to be able to calculate the doses to
the public. These calculations are also required to assure that the releases are within the acceptable standards and to
ascertain the radiological consequences of reactor accidents. Such computations also play an important role to
determine the acceptability of the proposed reactor site. That is why these calculations are considered as an essential
component of primary and final safety analysis report for a proposed nuclear power plant. The example is that of
CHASNUPP for which the final safety analysis report has been prepared and finalized before commencement. Before
dose calculation can be carried out, however, it is necessary to determine how the concentration of the radioactive
effluent varies from point to point following the emission into the atmosphere. In this connection it is also useful to
consider three broad classifications for sources according to their shape i.e. point sources, line sources and planner
sources. For instance, an orifice or an exhaust stack located at some geographical position and elevation may
correspond to a point source. Similarly the ground level deposition of radioactive effluents may form a sort of infinite
planner source. These calculations require a deep insight and understanding of meteorological conditions and
characteristics of plume that is released from the stack of the nuclear facility. Thus for dispersion of pollutant release
in the environment, it is essential to understand the plume dispersion characteristics based on atmospheric conditions .
Standard Atmospheric Lapse Rate:
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
i of vii
The rate of temperature change with respect to altitude is called the lapse rate. As mentioned before, in troposphere
temperature of air usually decreases with an increase in altitude. The scientists and aeronautical engineers have
defined a standard atmospheric lapse rate that represent the approximate average of all observations, day and night,
summer and winter. This average of observed temperature decrease with altitude is about 6.5
o
C/km.
Prevailing Lapse Rate:
The troposphere can further be subdivided into upper and lower layer based upon the extent of effect of earth surface
and heat transfer from it to the adjacent layers. The lower troposphere extends from ground (i.e. 0 meters) to about
1800 meters (1.8 km). Above that is the upper troposphere in which the standard lapse rate remains unaltered.
The difference between prevailing lapse rate in the lower layers of troposphere from the standard lapse rate is due to
environmental conditions i.e. heating and cooling of earths surface, humidity, the existence of cloud cover, or
presence of local topographical obstacle. This can be determined for a particular time by sending up a balloon
equipped with a thermometer. The balloon moves through the air, not with it, and measures the temperature gradient
of ambient air. This is the prevailing lapse rate. It is sometimes also referred to as the environmental lapse rate or
ambient lapse rate.
Adiabatic cooling rate:
The adiabatic cooling rate is rate of change of temperature that a puff of smoke would experience as it moves vertically
through the atmosphere. The cooling of rising air parcel may be determined theoretically. For calculation purposes we
may imagine a large bubble of air with a thin flexible cover that allows it to expand but prevent it from mixing with
surrounding air. It may be considered like a flexible balloon that is moving upward in the atmosphere. The air in
parcel expands as it encounters air of lesser density until its own density is equal to that of the atmosphere surrounding
it. As the air parcel rises up, it does work on its surroundings. Thus it undergoes reversible adiabatic process. If the
air in the balloon were in open but did not mix significantly with its surrounding air, it would behave the same way.
Consider a volume of air of thickness dz and cross-sectional
area A that is in equilibrium (motion less) at the altitude
z as shown in the figure. The volume is supported by the
pressure difference between tip and bottom.The weight of
air parcel is suspended by the difference in pressure from
the bottom and the top.
[ P(z+z) - P(z)] A = ( A g dz)
where is the density of air and g is acceleration
due to gravity. Thus we may write
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
ii of vii
P(z +

z)
P(z)

z
W = mg
= (

A g dz)
A
Figure: 2
dz g dP
g
dz
dP

Eq(1)
To a good approximation air can be taken as an ideal gas,
and as derived in Box I we can put the value of from
Eq.(1)
Using first law of thermodynamics, we can find the value of
L.H.S [Box- II]. Substituting the value of dP/P from eq(3)
in eq(2):
is the adiabatic lapse rate which an
air parcel would follow when it
moves in the atmosphere.
Taking g=9.8 m/s
2
, M=29 g/mole or 0.029 kg/mole, Cp as 3.5R i.e. 3.5(8.314) J/mole-
o
C, the adiabatic lapse rate for a
rising air parcel would be about 10
o
C/km.
Fluctuations in prevailing lapse rate:
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
iii of vii
g
T R
M P
dz
dP

) 2 ( Eq dz
T R
g M
P
dP

dz
T R
g M
T
dT
R
C
p

p
C
g M
dz
dT

dz
dT
Box: I
Box: II
Refresher (Gas Law):
T R PV n
T R
M
m
PV
,
_

T R
V
m
PM
,
_

( ) T R PM
( )
T R
M P
-----Eq.(1)
Refresher (Thermodynamics):
PdV dQ + dU
For reversible adiabatic process dQ=0, therefore:
0 dU + PdV
0 PdV C n
v
+ dT
since P V = n R T => PdV + VdP = n R dT :.
( ) 0 n C n
p
+ VdP dT R dT R
since P V = n R T => V = ( n R T) / P :.
( ) 0 n C n
p

1
]
1

+ dP
P
T R n
dT R dT R
T R n
P
dP
dT C
p
1
]
1

n
1
]
1

P
dP
T
dT
R
C
p
-----Eq.(3)
In order to have a clear concept of Prevailing Lapse Rate and its dependence on the prevailing environmental
conditions, an example may be considered, of a day in Thar desert. It is assumed that this is a typical spring day,
which is dry enough that moisture plays no role, there are no clouds and winds are light or moderate.
Consider the curve in Figure 3, the solid line AB shows the situation at dawn. All night the ground surface has been
cooling, and at dawn the surface temperature is perhaps 25
o
C. The cooled layer nearest the ground cools the layer of
air above it, so that there is a steady flow of heat downward from the air to the ground by conduction, slight convection
and radiation. Thus at dawn, temperature increases with elevation up to perhaps 300m. At this altitude the cooling
wave from ground runs into the lapse rate left over from the previous day, and the temperature continues along up the
standard lapse rate of 6.5
o
C/km. Below 300m the temperature increases with height. This pattern is called an
inversion; such inversion occurs every clear or slightly cloudy night, with low or average winds, on most of the
worlds surface and is known as radiation inversion.
When sun comes up, it heats the ground surface, which heats the layer above it. The layer heats the next layer above
it, and so on. Two hours after dawn the ground temperature will be perhaps 30
o
C. There will be a layer of warmed air
near the ground, in which the lapse rate is practically the adiabatic lapse rate as air parcels are being heated and going
up shown by the dashed segment CD. At its top D this layer encounters the remainder of the previous nights
inversion. Rising air from below cannot penetrate that inversion, but at the boundary it mixes with the inversion,
slowly destroying it, so that by four hours after sunrise the warmed air layer has grown as shown by dashed line EF
and almost eliminated the inversion.
By mid afternoon, enough heat has been transferred from the warmed ground surface to the adjacent air that the
inversion is gone. The heated air, which now has an adiabatic lapse rate, extends to perhaps 1800m as shown by curve
GHI where it encounters with a lapse rate at or near that of standard atmosphere. In the few hundred feet closest to
ground the lapse rate is even greater than the adiabatic lapse rate. (i.e. super adiabatic ) as shown by the part GH of
curve GHI. Shortly after sunset, the ground surface begins to cool by radiation, and to cool the air layer nearest it. By
sunset there will be a weak inversion close to the ground. All night this inversion layer will grow in strength and size,
until by dawn next day the temperature profile will be the same as that for dawn. Thus the prevailing lapse rate in the
lower troposphere may assume any form depending upon prevailing atmospheric condition and heating and cooling of
the earth surface [Fig:4]. It may be superadiabatic if lapse rate exceeds adiabatic lapse rate. If it is less than
adiabatic lapse rate it would be subadiabatic. If air temperature is constant throughout the lower layers of
atmosphere, the ambient lapse rate is zero and is described as isothermal. When temperature of the ambient air
increases instead of decreasing with altitude the lapse rate is negative, or inverted compared to standard, this condition
is called inversion.
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
iv of vii
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
v of vii
10
o
C 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
o
C
300
0 m
600
900
1200
1500
1800
2100m
TEMPERATURE
Figure: 3. Vertical temperature distribution at various times on a cloudless day
with low or average winds in a dry climate.
STANDARD ATMOSPHERIC LAPSE RATE = -6.5
o
C/km
ADIABETIC LAPSE RATE = -9.8
o
C/km
DAWN
DAWN + 2h
DAWN + 4h
MIDAFTERNOON
Altitude (km)
1.5 _
Subadiabatic Isothermal Inversion
(stable) (stable) (stable)
1.0 _Dry Adiabatic
(Neutral)
0.5 _
Super-adiabatic
(unstable)
(T-9.8
o
C) Temperature, (
o
C)
Figure:4 Possible prevailing environmental conditions
Atmospheric Stability:
The condition of the atmospheric environment, based on which one can predict how a puff of smoke emanating from a
stack moves around and disperses is termed as atmospheric stability condition. The vertical and horizontal motions in
the atmosphere interacts; the horizontal flows are driven by rising air at the equator and sinking air at the poles. In
the atmosphere any parcel of air that is less dense than the surrounding air will sink by negative buoyancy. Most
vertical motions in the atmosphere are caused by changes in air density.
The comparison of Prevailing Lapse Rate and Adiabatic cooling of rising air parcel is the principal determinant of
atmospheric stability. Figure 5 shows three lapse rates i.e. an adiabatic, a superadiabatic, and a subadiabatic curve.
All passing through point A. Initially it may be supposed that parcel of air is at point A. If it is displaced upward
or downward in a reversible and adiabatic way; the parcel will always follow the adiabatic lapse rate going from (To,
Zo ) to (To t T , Zo t Z).
Stable Atmosphere:
The stable condition in usual sense implies a situation where an object, if disturbed, has a tendency to regain its
original position. e.g. a ball inside a bowl. A stable atmosphere corresponds to that situation in which if a puff of
smoke released in the atmosphere is perturbed up or down, it would resist and tends to restore its original position. In
atmosphere this happens when prevailing lapse rate is below adiabatic lapse rate i.e. either subadiabatic or in
inversion.
The concept can be confirmed by considering the behaviour of air parcel in this situation. If an air parcel is perturbed
upward it follows adiabatic curve. The surrounding air has a prevailing subadiabatic lapse rate. In moving up the air
parcel will do some work and cools down more quickly at an adiabatic cooling rate i.e. 9.8
o
C/km in comparison to
surrounding which are at relatively higher temperature. Thus it becomes colder and denser than the surrounding air
and density difference will drive it back downwards. Similarly if the air parcel is displaced downwards, following the
same logic, it will become warmer and less dense than the surrounding air and density gradient will drive it back up.
Whatever disturbs its location, density gradient will move it back towards original location. Thus if surrounding air
lapse rate (i.e. prevailing lapse rate) is subadiabatic or inverted, atmospheric condition would be termed as stable and
vertical air motion is inhibited.
This stability as described above can be understood more easily by using some numbers. Considering figure 6, which
shows the prevailing lapse rate to be 5
o
C per 1000m. Under this condition, when the atmosphere at the surface has a
temperature of 25
o
C, the atmosphere at 1000m will be 5
o
C cooler (i.e. 20
o
C), whereas the air at 2000m will have a
temperature of 15
o
C, and so forth. Now if an unsaturated air parcel having temperature of 25
o
C near the ground, were
to rise to 1000m, it would expand and cool at the dry adiabatic rate of 10
o
C/km. Therefore, on reaching 1000m, its
temperature would have dropped by 10
o
C and becomes 15
o
C. Now at 1000m, air parcel has a temperature of 15
o
C
whereas surrounding atmosphere at 1000m has a temperature of 20
o
C making air parcel 5
o
C cooler than its
environment, it would be heavier and would tend to sink to its original position. In other words one may say that
when atmosphere near the ground is potentially cooler than the atmosphere aloft, the smoke puff will not rise. By
similar reasoning, if the air parcel at 1000m subsides, adiabatic heating would increase its temperature10
o
C by the
time it reached the near ground, making it warmer than the surrounding air; thus its buoyancy would cause it to
return. Thus the atmosphere in which prevailing lapse rate is subadiabatic, or inversion exists, the atmosphere is
termed as stable and resists vertical movement of smoke.
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
vi of vii
Similar thoughts can be given to other states of prevailing lapse rate like adiabatic, superadiabatic, isothermal and
inversion conditions. A simple procedure is to follow the steps given below to assess the stability. Practice can be done
on figure: 5 for all prevailing conditions using the steps below.
1. Place point A of the two intersecting curves ( i.e. adiabatic lapse rate which is followed by rising air parcel,
and prevailing lapse rate that exist in ambient environment )on the puff of smoke.
2. Draw horizontal lines parallel to temperature axis above and below A. These will intersect the two lapse rate
curves at two points on the same altitude.
3. Draw vertical lines through each point of intersection, which gives the corresponding temperature that exist
within air parcel and the temperature of the surrounding air, above and below the smoke puff.
4. The density of each is inversely related to their temperature and by having an idea of density the tendency of
smoke puff to move in the atmosphere can be assessed.
5. Only three cases are possible, although they may vary from slight to moderate.
a) Stable Atmosphere (tendency to move back to original position, vertical movement is not supported by
the environment), e.g. that exist in a clear night.
b) Neutral Atmosphere (tendency to remain stationary at the new position if air parcel is displaced), e.g
that exist in an overcast day.
c) Unstable Atmosphere (tendency to continue its movement in the direction in which it is pushed either
upward or downward) e.g. that exist in a warm sunny day.
Lecture delivered by Dr. Naseem Irfan
vii of vii
Subadiabatic Isothermal Inversion
(stable) (stable) (stable)
Dry Adiabatic
(Neutral)
Super-adiabatic
(unstable)

Figure:5 Behaviour of an air parcel displaced up or down in an
atmosphere with an adiabatic and a subadiabatic lapse rate.
Temperature, (
o
C)
Environmental Lapse
rate 5
o
C/km
2000 m-( 15
o
C)
1000m 20
o
C
ground 25
o
C
15
o
C
5
o
C
Tendency
Tendency
Force
dupwar
d
25
o
C
Puff of smoke
or air parcel
Figure:6 Schematic representation of a stable atmosphere.
Note that the air near the surface is potentially cooler
than air aloft and therefore resist upward motion.