This report presents a review of SKBs assessment of the long-term radiological effects on plants and animals of a deep geological repository as described in SKB report TR-10-08. The SKB report is one of a number contributing to the overall safety assessment, referred to as SR-Site, for the repository. The conclusion of the SKB report was that the ‘study gives no reason to assume that any of the species would be harmfully affected ......’
The aim of the review was to determine if the SKB assessment, conducted using the ERICA Integrated Approach, could have been conducted differently such that a significantly different conclusion could have been reached. So our aim was to determine if the consequences of a given source term could have been underestimated by SKB. Therefore, each element of the assessment was considered separately. The appropriateness of the SKB approach and the effect of any justifiable alternatives were evaluated.
A key protection goal of the assessment, as defined by SSM, relates to the value of certain types of species. There appears to have been little ‘special attention’ paid to the identified red-list, functional key or economically important species.