Background:
Invasion by different kinds of ballast water microorganisms is one of
the most important marine environment problems around the world
therefore preventing the invasion of these unwanted and harmful
stowaways is one of the main strategies of responsible agencies. Some
of these methods such as ocean exchange, heating, filtration, hydro
cyclones, UV irradiation and chemical treatment, have various problems such
as technical deficiency, high costs, lack of safety and environmental
side effects. Materialsand Methods: A novel system of treatment
by Gamma irradiation is designed to irradiate the blast water uniformly and
effectively. To determine the dose distribiution as a function of distance from
the irradiation source, the MNCP code was used. The systems used for source
implant in this simulation were Paterson-Parker, Paris and Network systems. In
each system, Sivert-integral and inverse square law were used in Matlab program
to determine the dose distribiution. Results: Results of initial
laboratory tests on offshore water samples of Siri Island indicated
that the appropriate dose for deactivation of organisms of water
samples is approximately one kGy. It has been demonstrated that the dose
can be provided by twenty five 100,000 Ci line sources of 60Co
in a triangle implant arranged in a 1x1x1 m3 cubic shape
water pipe. In order to increase efficiency and radiation safety,
water passed from two other coaxial and bigger cubes, after passing
from the first cube. A one meter thick wall of concrete around the
cubes was adequate to shield the system completely. Conclusion: The
main advantages of this system such as high efficiency, safety,
reliability, minimum environmental adverse effects, proves that this
novel method not only can be used for ballast water treatment, but is
also effective for drinking water purification.
Faez T, Sarkar S. Simulation of gamma irradiation system for a ballast water treatment. Int J Radiat Res 2006; 4 (2) :93-97 URL: http://ijrr.com/article-1-229-en.html