Radioactive Waste Remediation Research Articles

Allocation of Environmental Remediation Funds Using Economic Risk‐Cost‐Benefit Analysis: A Case Study

AbstractEfficient allocation of remediation resources is a critical need throughout the nation. Economic risk‐cost‐benefit analysis is an important tool for meeting this need. This paper provides site engineers, geologists, and managers with a conceptual understanding of economic risk‐cost‐benefit analysis and shows how it can be applied, even in situations where existing data are sparse or poor in quality. An example analysis is applied to the remediation of radioactive waste at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in which the cost‐effectiveness is compared for two remediation alternatives: containment of the waste or monitoring only. A data‐worth analysis is also carried out to estimate the maximum justifiable exploration budget and the cost‐effectiveness of two proposed data collection programs. Results indicate that the methodology has potential in making robust remediation decisions regarding certain types of questions.