Strategies for applying innovative risk assessment techniques at Superfund sites
- McLaren/Hart Environmental Engineering Corp., Portland, ME (United States). ChemRisk Div.
The science of exposure and risk analysis has made a number of advancements in the five years since EPA issued the Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund-Human Health Evaluation Manual Part A (RAGS). These advancements include the application of probabilistic techniques such as Monte Carlo modeling, an increasing understanding of the mechanisms of exposure through soil consumption and dermal contact, changes in regulatory approaches for evaluating exposure and risk, and techniques for characterizing spatial in contaminants. These regulatory and technical advances provide the risk assessor with a range of options for evaluating hazards at a Superfund site. The decision on what tools to use must be based upon such site-specific factors as the amount and quality of data that is available, the impact of the analysis on the final estimates of risk for the site, regulatory acceptability, and available technical support for the assessment technique. This paper presents a review of the options in the assessment of associated with soil contamination at Superfund sites and describes the value of the options considering both the effectiveness of the techniques and their acceptability to regulatory agencies. The paper also provides a strategy for selecting different assessment techniques for a site including the likely costs and benefits associated with each option. The goal of this paper is to provide the risk manager of a Superfund site with an understanding of the most effective way to in risk analysis into the management of the site.
- OSTI ID:
- 69820
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-941189--; ISBN 1-56590-016-2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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