Better D&D decision making through life cycle analysis

Abstract

Given the enormous scope of the decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) work that government and industry face, there is a tremendous opportunity to save money and avoid further insults to the environment and to human health by applying the principles of life cycle analysis (LCA). An LCA approach is presented that is especially valuable in D&D decision making because it provides a systematic, comprehensive, defensible decision‐aiding process to find solutions that reduce costs and risks of D&D projects. Our approach to LCA differs from other approaches by taking into consideration all the factors important to owners and stakeholders – life cycle cost, health and safety, the environment, programmatic impacts, and other factors. Stakeholder participation is also a key part of the process. The result is robust, durable solutions for even the most complex D&D project. A specific demonstration of this approach to aid D&D at two US Department of Energy sites is presented.