Application of biosphere models in the BIOMOSA project: A comparative assessment of five European radioactive waste disposal sites

¹ National Radiological Protection Board, Chilton, UK
² GSF-Institute for Radiation Protection, Neuherberg, Germany
³ Studsvik Eco & Safety, Nyköping, Sweden
⁴ University of Veszprem, Hungary
⁵ SCK-CEN, Mol, Belgium
⁶ CIEMAT, Madrid, Spain

Abstract

The BioMoSA (Biosphere Models for Safety Assessment of Radioactive Waste Disposal) project was part of the EC fifth framework research program. The main goal of this project was the improvement of the scientific basis for the application of biosphere models in the framework of long-term safety studies of radioactive waste disposal facilities. Another aim of the project was to provide operators and regulatory bodies with guidelines for performance assessments of repository systems. The study focused on the development and application of site-specific models and a generic biosphere tool BIOGEM (BIOsphere GEneric Model), using the experience from National programs and the IAEA BIOMASS reference biosphere methodology. The models were applied to 5 typical locations in Europe, resulting in estimates of the annual individual doses to the critical groups and the ranking of the importance of the pathways for each of the sites. The results of the site-specific and generic models were then compared. Uncertainty in the results was estimated by means of stochastic calculations which allowed a comparison of the overall model uncertainty with the variability across the different sites considered.