Description

The biological evolution of humans, microorganisms, animals or plant species, by both natural selection and selective breeding/culturing.

Category

Categorisation as a Feature, Event and/or Process.

  • Features are physical components of the disposal system and environment being assessed. Examples include waste packaging, backfill, surface soils. Features typically interact with one another via processes and in some cases events.
  • Events are dynamic interactions among features that occur over time periods that are short compared to the safety assessment timeframe such as a gas explosion or meteorite impact.
  • "Processes" are issues or dynamic interactions among features that generally occur over a significant proportion of the safety assessment timeframe and may occur over the whole of this timeframe. Events and processes may be coupled to one another (i.e. may influence one another).

The classification of a FEP as an event or process depends upon the assessment context, because the classification is undertaken with reference to an assessment timeframe. In this generic IFEP List, many IFEPs are classified as both Events and Processes; users will need to decide which of these classifications is relevant to their context and its timeframes.

  • Process

Relevance to Performance and Safety

The “Relevance to Performance and Safety” field contains an explanation of how the IFEP might influence the performance and safety of the disposal system under consideration through its impact on the evolution of the repository system and on the release, migration and/or uptake of repository-derived contaminants.

The evolution of organisms will affect how ecosystems might respond to being exposed to radionuclides and / or other contaminants that originate in a repository. This evolution could be natural, caused by deliberate human actions (e.g. selection for agricultural purposes) or could be an indirect consequence of human actions, such as a response to pollution. Potentially, some organisms could evolve because of exposure to contaminants from a repository. Evolution could influence how organisms can concentrate or disperse these contaminants, as well as the physiological effects of the contaminants on the organisms themselves. Not all organisms in an ecosystem will evolve at the same rate. Microorganisms may evolve much more quickly than higher organisms such as humans. This may be especially relevant for evolved microorganisms that are brought into the repository by intrusive measures and that may subsequently alter the properties of safety barriers. Human actions could speed up the evolution of organisms by either selection or genetic manipulation. Potentially, such anthropogenically caused evolution could produce organisms that are resistant to radionuclides or other contaminants. Alternatively, evolution caused by humans could produce organisms that are more vulnerable if exposed to radionuclides or other contaminants from a repository. The evolution of even a single organism within an ecosystem could potentially affect the entire ecosystem significantly.

2000 List

A reference to the related FEP(s) within the 2000 NEA IFEP List.

1.5.02

Related References