Identifying and overcoming barriers to technology implementation
Conference
·
OSTI ID:474039
- Dept. of Energy, Germantown, MD (United States); and others
In a recent General Accounting Office report, the Department of Energy`s (DOE) Office of Environmental Management was found to be ineffective in integrating their environmental technology development efforts with the cleanup actions. As a result of these findings, a study of remediation documents was performed by the Technology Applications Team within DOE`s Office of Environmental Restoration (EM-40) to validate this finding and to understand why it was occurring. A second initiative built on the foundation of the remediation document study and evaluated solutions to the ineffective implementation of improved technologies. The Technology Applications Team examined over 50 remediation documents (17 projects) which included nearly 600 proposed remediation technologies. It was determined that very few technologies are reaching the Records of Decision documents. In fact, most are eliminated in the early stages of consideration. These observations stem from regulators` and stakeholders` uncertainties in cost and performance of the technology and the inability of the technology to meet site specific conditions. The Technology Applications Team also set out to identify and evaluate solutions to barriers to implementing innovative technology into the DOE`s environmental management activities. Through the combined efforts of DOE and the Hazardous Waste Action Coalition (HWAC), a full day workshop was conducted at the annual HWAC meeting in June 1995 to solve barriers to innovative technology implementation. Three barriers were identified as widespread throughout the DOE complex and industry. Identified barriers included a lack of verified or certified cost and performance data for innovative technologies; risk of failure to reach cleanup goals using innovative technologies; and communication barriers that are present at virtually every stage of the characterization/remediation process from development through implementation.
- OSTI ID:
- 474039
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-960804--Vol.2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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