Alternate Endpoints for Deep Vadose Zone Environments: Challenges, Opportunities, and Progress - 13036
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Blvd, Richland, WA, 99352 (United States)
Current requirements for site remediation and closure are standards-based and are often overly conservative, costly, and in some cases, technically impractical to achieve. Use of risk-informed alternate endpoints provide a means to achieve remediation goals that are permitted by regulations and are protective of human health and the environment. Alternate endpoints enable establishing a path for cleanup that may include intermediate remedial milestones and transition points and/or regulatory alternatives to standards-based remediation. A framework is presented that is centered around developing and refining conceptual models in conjunction with assessing risks and potential endpoints as part of a system-based assessment that integrates site data with scientific understanding of processes that control the distribution and transport of contaminants in the subsurface and pathways to receptors. This system-based assessment and subsequent implementation of the remediation strategy with appropriate monitoring are targeted at providing a holistic approach to addressing risks to human health and the environment. This holistic approach also enables effective predictive analysis of contaminant behavior to provide defensible criteria and data for making long-term decisions. Developing and implementing an alternate endpoint-based approach for remediation and waste site closure presents a number of challenges and opportunities. Categories of these challenges include scientific and technical, regulatory, institutional, and budget and resource allocation issues. Opportunities exist for developing and implementing systems-based approaches with respect to supportive characterization, monitoring, predictive modeling, and remediation approaches. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9-332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22224840
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-13-WM-13036; TRN: US14V0274045795
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2013: Waste Management Conference: International collaboration and continuous improvement, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 24-28 Feb 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 22 refs.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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