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Representation of estuarine, coastal and marine biosphere systems within post-closure performance assessments supporting geological disposal of higher activity radioactive wastes in the UK

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

R. C. Walke ,
M. C. Thorne ,
J. T. Smith  and
R. Kowe
R. C. Walke*
Affiliation:
Quintessa Limited, The Hub, 14 Station Road, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire RG9 1AY, UK
M. C. Thorne
Affiliation:
Mike Thorne and Associates Limited, Quarry Cottage, Hamsterley, County Durham DL13 3NJ, UK
J. T. Smith
Affiliation:
School of Earth&Environmental Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Burnaby Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth PO1 3QL, UK
R. Kowe
Affiliation:
Radioactive Waste Management Limited, Building 587, Curie Avenue, Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0RH, UK
*
*E-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

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Radioactive Waste Management Limited (RWM) is tasked with implementing geological disposal of the United Kingdom's (UK) higher activity radioactive wastes. This paper describes how RWM's biosphere modelling capability has been extended from a solely terrestrial model to allow potential contaminant releases to estuarine, coastal and marine systems around the UK to be represented. The new models aim to strike a balance between being as simple as can be justified, erring on the side of conservative estimates of potential doses, while also representing the features and processes required to reflect and distinguish UK coastal systems. Sediment dynamics (including meandering of estuaries and sediment accumulation) are explicitly represented in a simplified form that captures the accumulation and remobilization of radionuclides. Long-term transitions between biosphere systems (such as from a salt marsh to a terrestrial system) are outside the scope of the study. The models and supporting data draw on information about the UK that is representative of present-day conditions and represent potential exposures arising from both occupational and recreational habits.?

Generic calculations demonstrate that potential doses to humans arising from releases to estuarine, coastal and marine systems are typically more than two orders of magnitude lower than those for equivalent releases to terrestrial systems via well water and groundwater discharge to soil. The extended capability (i) ensures that RWM is able to undertake assessments for potential coastal site contexts, if and when required, and (ii) provides RWM with quantitative evidence to support the principal focus on terrestrial releases ( particularly for more generic assessments).

Keywords

radioactive wastebiosphereestuarycoastalmarinedose assessment
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 79 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1467 - 1474
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015. This is an open access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015

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