Early consideration of risk assessment data needs to streamline RI process and improve quality of cleanup goals
- Black and Veatch Waste Science, Inc., Philadelphia, PA (United States)
More often than not, planning decisions concerning how to conduct a remedial investigation (RI) at a Superfund site are made without a thorough knowledge of the site conditions, source areas, or contaminants of concern, and often lose the perspective of the overall goal of Superfund to protect human health and the environment. Cleanup levels that meet this goal are primarily determined through the risk assessment process. Risk assessments at a Superfund site begin with sampling and analysis of various environmental media to determine the existing levels of contamination to which human and ecological receptors may be exposed. Past experience indicates that this first step is the most costly and unfocused component of the risk assessment process, often resulting in the improper use of data and conclusions that are scientifically indefensible or over-conservative. This paper presents a model for the early involvement of risk assessors in the RI process, outlines potential cost savings, and discusses the improved quality of risk assessments performed under this model. A brief description of the traditional approaches to risk assessment, compared to this early involvement model, is presented. This paper demonstrates that, in many cases, site investigations and sample data obtained in the pre-remedial phases of the site investigations can be used by the risk assessors. This information enables the risk assessors to focus further sampling efforts and control costs by reducing the number of samples, the number of analyses, and field time. Focused sampling efforts also ensure the usability of analytical data for risk assessment purposes and the development of accurate and defensible assessment of human and ecological risk and ultimately, the development of more accurate cleanup goals.
- OSTI ID:
- 367502
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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