Description

The ethnicity of humans, including metabolism, physiology, age, health state, gender and ethnicity.

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.

  • Feature

Comments

The “Comments” field, when present, contains any additional explanation of the IFEP, beyond that implicit in the FEP's description and provided in the “Relevance to Performance and Safety” field. This additional explanation may include, where appropriate, the IFEPs characteristics, the circumstances under which it might be relevant and its relationship to other (especially similar) IFEPs.

Humans vary in their metabolism (chemical and biochemical reactions that occur in connection with the production and use of energy) and physiology (body and organ form and function).

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.

This FEP relates to physical characteristics of humans that might affect their susceptibility to any repository-derived contaminants that might reach the biosphere. Susceptibility to contaminants varies with age, sex and reproductive status. Children and infants, although similar to adults, often have characteristic differences (e.g. respiratory rates, food types, ingestion of soil) that may lead to different exposure characteristics.

In addition to the variation in individual humans, different groups might have a genetic tendency towards certain features that may affect their susceptibility to contaminants.

2000 List

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

2.4.01, 2.4.02

Related References