The Hanford 100 area: The influence of expressed stakeholder values on remediation decisions

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) environmental challenges include remediation of numerous contaminated soil sites in the Hanford 100 Area in Washington State. One can identify key themes in 100 Area cleanup: expedited procedures for remediation, considerations for groundwater contamination, a goal of unrestricted land use, and complexity in remediation decisions. The Record of Decision for 100 Area soils developed through an extended public process, and these key themes, in turn, reflect values expressed by the Hanford Advisory Board, the applicable site-specific advisory board. We describe two occasions when DOE/Headquarters attempts to change 100 Area remediation provisions encountered public opposition. DOE could have been better served on these occasions by a comprehensive understanding of how the remediation decisions developed from expressed stakeholder values. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.