THE ROLE OF RISK IN DOE ENVIRONMENTAL CLEANUP DECISION-MAKING: THE REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS

This paper is the first in a proposed series of papers that will try to answer a question commonly directed to the Department of Energy: “How is risk used to make decisions in the Environmental Management (EM) program? ” This paper summarizes the role that human health and safety risk plays in DOE cleanup decision-making under CERCLA and RCRA, two main regulatory drivers behind DOE cleanup efforts. The general conclusion is that there are some general limitations to the current use of risk in DOE CERCLA and RCRA cleanup decision-making. These limitations occur in both how risks are assessed and in how risk information is used in decision-making. DOE has made efforts at developing risk-based approaches to cleanup decision-making, and these efforts have generally been technically sound. However, in order for a more risk-informed cleanup approach to be implemented, it must either work within the current regulatory framework or DOE must negotiate exceptions to that framework. Recognizing the limited scope of this initial paper, the conclusion briefly offers an opinion on some general areas in which DOE should continue to work in order to improve the use of risk in cleanup decision-making