A strategy for describing the biosphere at candidate sites for repositories of nuclear waste: linking ecosystem and landscape modeling

Ambio. 2006 Dec;35(8):418-24. doi: 10.1579/0044-7447(2006)35[418:asfdtb]2.0.co;2.

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 and by identifying interactions and stocks and flows of matter among functional units at the sites. The conceptual model is a helpful initial tool for defining properties needed to quantify system processes, which may reveal new interfaces between disciplines, providing a variety of new opportunities to enhance the understanding of the linkages between ecosystem characteristics and the functional properties of landscapes. This type of integrated ecosystem-landscape characterization model has an important role in forming the implementation of a safety assessment for a deep repository.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Ecosystem*
  • Licensure
  • Radioactive Waste*
  • Safety
  • Sweden
  • Waste Management / methods*
  • Waste Management / standards

Substances

  • Radioactive Waste