Risk valuation of ecological resources at contaminated deactivation and decommissioning facilities: methodology and a case study at the Department of Energy's Hanford site

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment
Joanna BurgerChristian Jeitner

Abstract

Many countries are faced with monumental cleanup tasks remaining from World War II and the Cold War and consistent methodologies are essential to assess the risk from pollutants and the risk from cleanup. In the USA, the Department of Energy (DOE), and other federal and state agencies need to be able to rapidly evaluate the risk to ecological resources for remediation projects. While ecological risk assessments for radionuclides and other contaminants can be performed for different species, evaluations of species assemblages, communities, and ecosystems is more difficult. We summarize an evaluation method for ecological resources on individual remediation units that will allow comparison among a large number of units and that can be modified and applied to the DOE complex-wide. We evaluated the deactivation and decommissioning (D & D) facilities at the Hanford site as case studies. Remediation of these sites has the potential to provide harm to, or increase the value of, ecological resources during and after the process. The evaluation method includes three categories: (1) general steps, (2) ecological descriptions, and (3) ecological ratings. The general steps include identifying the categories of resources (level of resource ...Continue Reading

References

Mar 16, 2004·Science·F W WhickerL J Habegger
Sep 24, 2004·Environmental Management·Joanna BurgerMichael Greenberg
Jul 27, 2005·Environmental Management·James M Omernik
Jul 17, 2007·Environmental Research·Barbara L Harper, Stuart G Harris
Jul 29, 2008·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Joanna BurgerTim Stamm
Apr 23, 2010·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Joanna BurgerMichael Gochfeld
Jan 26, 2012·Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management·Charles A MenzieTed Wickwire
Aug 31, 2016·Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health. Part a·Joanna BurgerJennifer Salisbury

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