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2 Using Risk to Inform Decisions
Pages 73-92

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From page 73...
... The first session of the workshop focused on promoting effective and efficient risk-informed decision making. To address this topic, federal and academic practitioners provided background and examples of effective use of risk in complex decisions related to environmental remediation decisions.
From page 74...
... Several reports and recent policy documents support this statement. For example, Alternatives for Managing the Nation's Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites (NRC 2013)
From page 75...
... • Flexibility allows remediation goals to be accomplished over time (both a blessing and a curse)
From page 76...
... 2.2  SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION SESSION Workshop 1 Highlights. The planning committee chair Paul Gilman (Covanta Energy)
From page 77...
... Current laws and regulations such as the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) forbid dumping or burial (previously accepted practices)
From page 78...
... Dr. Kavanaugh chaired the committee that wrote the recent groundwater contamination report, Alternatives for Managing the Nations Complex Contaminated Groundwater Sites (NRC 2013)
From page 79...
... The near-term future of site remediation is moving toward inclusion of sustainability frameworks, which account for value judgments and other considerations during the decision-making process.
From page 80...
... A similar finding was made by the committee that authored the Green Book; it saw that sustainability principles were already being employed by practitioners to guide decisions at local levels. The Green Book purposefully did not define "sustainability." Rather, concepts compatible with a sustainability approach were referenced in other existing government documents including the National Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C.
From page 81...
... Risk is part of the consideration of sustainability, but the sustainability framework goes beyond risk assessment. Recommendation 5.1 from the Green Book makes this clear: "The committee recommends EPA include risk assessment as a tool, when appropriate, as a key input in its sustainability decision making" (NRC 2011, p.
From page 82...
... The short analysis of this scenario shows that one can expect a single excess cancer death over the time period of 1.75 million years, roughly the time that humans have existed on the planet. Although sustainability frameworks require consideration of future generations, one should be careful about how the results of risk assessments -- such as this example -- are used to guide decisions.
From page 83...
... In 1994, DOE established a Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act Disposal Facility (CERCLA) /NEPA Policy that states if DOE relies on and follows the CERCLA process (see CERCLA's nine criteria in Box 2.2)
From page 84...
... State acceptance 9. Community acceptance 2.5  SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION SESSION Maximizing Benefit, Minimizing Risk.
From page 85...
... . Planning committee chair Paul Gilman (Covanta Energy)
From page 86...
... The prioritization process should be transparent and should include factors beyond risk exposure. A sustainability framework offers a way to incorporate these additional
From page 87...
... . Cleanup, jobs, and economy are all parts of the pillars of a sustainability framework.
From page 88...
... Planning committee member Michael Kavanaugh (Geosyntec) noted that the focus of the recent NRC study (NRC 2013)
From page 89...
... Waste and cleanup regulations have impact beyond the environmental remediation of contaminated sites; the regulations can also impact the nuclear energy industry. Overly conservative cleanup standards result in
From page 90...
... . When faced with technical complexity, uncertainty, cost and value judgments, and multiple competing objectives, decision analysis provides an approach for making logical, reproducible, and defendable decisions.
From page 91...
... Now is the time to adopt decision analysis that can support sustainability frameworks into the decision-making process. 2.9  SUMMARY OF DISCUSSION SESSION Models.
From page 92...
... Goldstein. For example, models provide insight, and sensitivity analysis provides information to guide decisions.


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