Abstract:To provide information necessary for a license application for a deep repository for spent nuclear fuel, the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. has started site investigations at two sites in Sweden. In this paper, we present a strategy to integrate site-specific ecosystem data into spatially explicit models needed for safety assessment studies and the environmental impact assessment. The site-specific description of ecosystems is developed by building discipline-specific models from primary data an… Show more
“…3) was selected based on findings emerging from several years of site investigations at Forsmark and also at the Laxemar-Simpevarp site in the municipality of Oskarshamn (Andersson et al 2013). Earlier results from this study have been published in a previous special issue of AMBIO (Lindborg et al 2006). Fig.…”
Section: Introductionsupporting
confidence: 57%
“…First of all, substantial site information is available from a site investigating program designed to improve site-specific data and understanding of the biosphere at Forsmark and the alternative candidate site, Laxemar-Simpevarp (Lindborg et al 2006). The program generated one of the largest databases currently available in Sweden on simultaneously measured ecosystem data covering marine, limnic, and terrestrial ecosystems (Andersson 2010; Aquilonius 2010; Löfgren 2010; Tröjbom and Nordén 2010; Bradshaw et al 2012).…”
This is an overview of the strategy used to describe the effects of a potential release from a radioactive waste repository on human exposure and future environments. It introduces a special issue of AMBIO, in which 13 articles show ways of understanding and characterizing the future. The study relies mainly on research performed in the context of a recent safety report concerning a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (the so-called SR-Site project). The development of a good understanding of on-site processes and acquisition of site-specific data facilitated the development of new approaches for assessment of surface ecosystems. A systematic and scientifically coherent methodology utilizes the understanding of the current spatial and temporal dynamics as an analog for future conditions. We conclude that future ecosystem can be inferred from a few variables and that this multidisciplinary approach is relevant in a much wider context than radioactive waste.
“…3) was selected based on findings emerging from several years of site investigations at Forsmark and also at the Laxemar-Simpevarp site in the municipality of Oskarshamn (Andersson et al 2013). Earlier results from this study have been published in a previous special issue of AMBIO (Lindborg et al 2006). Fig.…”
Section: Introductionsupporting
confidence: 57%
“…First of all, substantial site information is available from a site investigating program designed to improve site-specific data and understanding of the biosphere at Forsmark and the alternative candidate site, Laxemar-Simpevarp (Lindborg et al 2006). The program generated one of the largest databases currently available in Sweden on simultaneously measured ecosystem data covering marine, limnic, and terrestrial ecosystems (Andersson 2010; Aquilonius 2010; Löfgren 2010; Tröjbom and Nordén 2010; Bradshaw et al 2012).…”
This is an overview of the strategy used to describe the effects of a potential release from a radioactive waste repository on human exposure and future environments. It introduces a special issue of AMBIO, in which 13 articles show ways of understanding and characterizing the future. The study relies mainly on research performed in the context of a recent safety report concerning a repository for spent nuclear fuel in Sweden (the so-called SR-Site project). The development of a good understanding of on-site processes and acquisition of site-specific data facilitated the development of new approaches for assessment of surface ecosystems. A systematic and scientifically coherent methodology utilizes the understanding of the current spatial and temporal dynamics as an analog for future conditions. We conclude that future ecosystem can be inferred from a few variables and that this multidisciplinary approach is relevant in a much wider context than radioactive waste.
“…The purpose of the experiment was to do a site-specific investigation of how the sediment-transport patterns differed between the two morphologically very different areas. At the time of the study both areas were being examined by the Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co. (SKB) with the aim of finding a suitable site for a future underground nuclear repository (Lindborg et al 2006). The results were to be used as part of the background information that would be the basis of the decision about which area to choose for further investigations.…”
A particle-tracking model based on high-resolution ocean flow data was used to investigate particle residence times and spatial distribution of settling sediment for two geo-morphologically different Swedish coastal areas. The study was a part of a safety assessment for the location of a future nuclear-waste repository, and information about the particle-transport patterns can contribute to predictions of the fate of a possible leakage. It is also, to our knowledge, the first time particle-transport differences between two coastal areas have been quantified in this manner. In Forsmark, a funnel-shaped bay shielded by a number of islands, the average residence time for clay particles was 5 times longer than in the modeled part of Simpevarp, which is open to the Baltic Sea. In Forsmark, <10 % of the released particles left the domain compared to 60–80 % in Simpevarp. These site-specific differences will increase over time with the differences in land uplift between the areas.
“…The employed strategy involved descriptions of the ecosystem functions and processes at the potential repository sites using coupled discipline-specific models. The resulting models described the landscape properties, the distributed ecosystems and their properties and processes needed to follow transport of matter (Lindborg et al 2006).…”
The handling and safe disposal of spent fuel from nuclear power plants has been an issue since the 1950s when the first suggested method, geological storage in salt formations, was proposed in the US. Since then a number of methods have been developed for different types of bedrocks and waste types. One common need applicable to all these methods is to describe features and processes essential in repository design and demonstrations of longterm safety. So far, most methods have not described, nor emphasized, the importance of site-specific understanding of key parameters related to a specific repository design. Furthermore, the need of interdisciplinary research and the benefits gained when handling the site as a unified connected and mutually interrelated system (from bedrock to surface) have not been fully discussed. During a 30-year period, research has been performed in Sweden to demonstrate feasibility and long-term safety of underground geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel. In this paper, the overall strategy and discipline-specific modelling methods used in the site description of a final repository in Sweden are described, as exemplified by the Forsmark site. The resulting site description covers understanding of the historical evolution of the site, site data describing the current situation as well as spatially variable models needed to design the repository and evaluate long-term safety after closure. Finally, lessons learnt from this work are summarized, which are important when employing this method in the future.
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