Proceedings of the 10th Annual Conference on Hazardous Waste Research 69 RISKS OF RISK ASSESSMENT

The significance of risk assessment is due to the fact that the financial resources allocated for remediation and environmental services depend on the magnitude—real or perceived—of the environmental risk. This attitude is very important in the middle European countries where privatization of former state companies has been underway for about five years. Before privatization can occur it is necessary to remediate damages caused during the former so called "state care " period. Damages have occurred due to improper storage and handling of fuels, improper storage of industrial chemicals, and improper waste disposal practices. In this situation, a knowledge of risk assessment procedures has become an integral part of hydrogeological consulting practice. However, there are many cases where the damage assessments appear to be in error due to problems associated with the choice of the risk assessment criteria, both environmental and economic. The need to introduce additional criteria in the risk assessment procedures is stressed