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Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages: Part I - Overview of Methodologies
Vaiman, Marianna; Bell, Keith; Chen, Yousu; Chowdhury, Badrul; Dobson, Ian; Hines, Paul; Papic, Milorad; Miller, Stephen; Zhang, Pei
This paper is a result of ongoing activity carried out by Understanding, Prediction, Mitigation and Restoration of Cascading Failures Task Force under IEEE Computer Analytical Methods Subcommittee (CAMS). The task force's previous papers are focused on general aspects of cascading outages such as understanding, prediction, prevention and restoration from cascading failures. This is the first of two new papers, which will extend this previous work to summarize the state of the art in cascading failure risk analysis methodologies and modeling tools. This paper is intended to be a reference document to summarize the state of the art in the methodologies for performing risk assessment of cascading outages caused by some initiating event(s). A risk assessment should cover the entire potential chain of cascades starting with the initiating event(s) and ending with some final condition(s). However, this is a difficult task and heuristic approaches and approximations have been suggested. This paper discusses diffeent approaches to this and suggests directions for future development of methodologies.
Drug interactions evaluation: An integrated part of risk assessment of therapeutics
Zhang, Lei; Reynolds, Kellie S.; Zhao, Ping; Huang, Shiew-Mei
Pharmacokinetic drug interactions can lead to serious adverse events or decreased drug efficacy. The evaluation of a new molecular entity's (NME's) drug-drug interaction potential is an integral part of risk assessment during drug development and regulatory review. Alteration of activities of enzymes or transporters involved in the absorption, distribution, metabolism, or excretion of a new molecular entity by concomitant drugs may alter drug exposure, which can impact response (safety or efficacy). The recent Food and Drug Administration (FDA) draft drug interaction guidance ( (http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Drugs/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/Guidances/ucm072101.pdf)) highlights the methodologies and criteria that may be used to guide drug interaction evaluation by industry and regulatory agencies and to construct informative labeling for health practitioner and patients. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration established a 'Drug Development and Drug Interactions' website to provide up-to-date information regarding evaluation of drug interactions ( (http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DevelopmentApprovalProcess/DevelopmentResources/DrugInteractionsLabeling/ucm080499.htm)). This review summarizes key elements in the FDA drug interaction guidance and new scientific developments that can guide the evaluation of drug-drug interactions during the drug development process.
Bibliographical database of radiation biological dosimetry and risk assessment: Part 1, through June 1988
Straume, T.; Ricker, Y.; Thut, M.
This database was constructed to support research in radiation biological dosimetry and risk assessment. Relevant publications were identified through detailed searches of national and international electronic databases and through our personal knowledge of the subject. Publications were numbered and key worded, and referenced in an electronic data-retrieval system that permits quick access through computerized searches on publication number, authors, key words, title, year, and journal name. Photocopies of all publications contained in the database are maintained in a file that is numerically arranged by citation number. This report of the database is provided as a useful reference and overview. It should be emphasized that the database will grow as new citations are added to it. With that in mind, we arranged this report in order of ascending citation number so that follow-up reports will simply extend this document. The database cite 1212 publications. Publications are from 119 different scientific journals, 27 of these journals are cited at least 5 times. It also contains reference to 42 books and published symposia, and 129 reports. Information relevant to radiation biological dosimetry and risk assessment is widely distributed among the scientific literature, although a few journals clearly dominate. The four journals publishing the largest number of relevant papers are Health Physics, Mutation Research, Radiation Research, and International Journal of Radiation Biology. Publications in Health Physics make up almost 10% of the current database.
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Ecological Risk Assessments Ecological Risk Assessments Ecological risk assessment is the appraisal of potential adverse effects of exposure to contaminants on plants and animals....
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
A set of issues that state and local governments should carefully consider, with the goal of helping them assess and anticipate solutions for some worst case or unfortunate case scenarios as they...
Risk Assessment & Management Information
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
NRC - A Proposed Risk Management Regulatory Framework, April 2012 Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group (RWG) web page DOE Standard on Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in DOE Nuclear Safety Applications (draft), December 2010 Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation Workshop on Risk Assessment and Safety Decision Making Under Uncertainty
Risk Identification and Assessment
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Risk Identification and Assessment [Sections in brackets are for instructions; these should be deleted or replaced with specifics in the template.] Subsystem Title or Section within Subsystem [In the first column, using short bullets, fill in "what can go wrong," or a brief description of a potential benefit from a program or action. Add additional rows as necessary. Fill in the other columns using the rating guidelines in the attached reference pages.] |Risk|Probability|Impact|Risk
Ozone Risk Assessment Utilities
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
ORAMUS is a user-friendly, menu-driven software system that calculates and displays user-selected risk estimates for health effects attributable to short-term exposure to tropospheric ozone. Inputs to the risk assessment are estimates of exposure to ozone and exposure-response relationships to produce overall risk estimates in the form of probability distributions. Three fundamental models are included: headcount risk, benchmark risk, and hospital admissions. Exposure-response relationships are based on results of controlled human exposure studies. Exposure estimates aremore » based on the EPA''s probabilistic national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) exposure model, pNEM/Osub3, which simulates air quality associated with attainment of alternative NAAQS. Using ORAMUS, risk results for 27 air quality scenarios, air quality in 9 urban areas, 33 health endpoints, and 4 chronic health endpoints can be calculated.« less
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
The Biosecurity Risk Assessment Tool (BRAT) is a new type of computer application for the screening-level assessment of risk to dairy operations. BRAT for Dairies is designed to be intuitive and easy to use. Users enter basic data-property address, feed management, employee population, and so on - into the interface. Using these data and rules found in an expert system. BRAT for Dairies consults appropriate sections of its database. The expert system determines the riskmore » implications of the basic data, e.g. diseases are closely tied to pen location with respect to the outside world, When the analysis is complete, BRAT for Dairies evaluates and allocates the risk for each hazard, ranks the risks, and displays the results graphically.« less
Biosafety Risk Assessment Model
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
Software tool based on a structured methodology for conducting laboratory biosafety risk assessments by biosafety experts. Software is based upon an MCDA scheme and uses peer reviewed criteria and weights. The software was developed upon Microsofts .net framework. The methodology defines likelihood and consequence of a laboratory exposure for thirteen unique scenarios and provides numerical relative risks for each of the relevant thirteen. The software produces 2-d graphs reflecting the relative risk and a sensitivitymore » analysis which highlights the overall importance of each factor. The software works as a set of questions with absolute scales and uses a weighted additive model to calculate the likelihood and consequence.« less
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Risk Assessment - Sandia Energy Energy Search Icon Sandia Home Locations Contact Us Employee Locator Energy & Climate Secure & Sustainable Energy Future Stationary Power Energy Conversion Efficiency Solar Energy Wind Energy Water Power Supercritical CO2 Geothermal Natural Gas Safety, Security & Resilience of the Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Nuclear Power & Engineering Grid Modernization Battery Testing Nuclear Energy Defense Waste Management Programs Advanced Nuclear
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Risk Assessment - Sandia Energy Energy Search Icon Sandia Home Locations Contact Us Employee Locator Energy & Climate Secure & Sustainable Energy Future Stationary Power Energy Conversion Efficiency Solar Energy Wind Energy Water Power Supercritical CO2 Geothermal Natural Gas Safety, Security & Resilience of the Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Nuclear Power & Engineering Grid Modernization Battery Testing Nuclear Energy Defense Waste Management Programs Advanced Nuclear
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Security Risk Assessment - Sandia Energy Energy Search Icon Sandia Home Locations Contact Us Employee Locator Energy & Climate Secure & Sustainable Energy Future Stationary Power Energy Conversion Efficiency Solar Energy Wind Energy Water Power Supercritical CO2 Geothermal Natural Gas Safety, Security & Resilience of the Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Nuclear Power & Engineering Grid Modernization Battery Testing Nuclear Energy Defense Waste Management Programs Advanced
Farmer, F.G.; Jones, J.L.; Hunt, R.N.; Roush, M.L.; Wierman, T.E.
The Probabilistic Risk Assessment Unit at EG G Idaho has developed this handbook to provide guidance to a facility manager exploring the potential benefit to be gained by performance of a risk assessment properly scoped to meet local needs. This document is designed to help the manager control the resources expended commensurate with the risks being managed and to assure that the products can be used programmatically to support future needs in order to derive maximum beneflt from the resources expended. We present a logical and functional mapping scheme between several discrete phases of project definition to ensure that a potential customer, working with an analyst, is able to define the areas of interest and that appropriate methods are employed in the analysis. In addition the handbook is written to provide a high-level perspective for the analyst. Previously, the needed information was either scattered or existed only in the minds of experienced analysts. By compiling this information and exploring the breadth of knowledge which exists within the members of the PRA Unit, the functional relationships between the customers' needs and the product have been established.
Farmer, F.G.; Jones, J.L.; Hunt, R.N.; Roush, M.L.; Wierman, T.E.
The Probabilistic Risk Assessment Unit at EG&G Idaho has developed this handbook to provide guidance to a facility manager exploring the potential benefit to be gained by performance of a risk assessment properly scoped to meet local needs. This document is designed to help the manager control the resources expended commensurate with the risks being managed and to assure that the products can be used programmatically to support future needs in order to derive maximum beneflt from the resources expended. We present a logical and functional mapping scheme between several discrete phases of project definition to ensure that a potential customer, working with an analyst, is able to define the areas of interest and that appropriate methods are employed in the analysis. In addition the handbook is written to provide a high-level perspective for the analyst. Previously, the needed information was either scattered or existed only in the minds of experienced analysts. By compiling this information and exploring the breadth of knowledge which exists within the members of the PRA Unit, the functional relationships between the customers` needs and the product have been established.
State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
OE is leading a State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative to help States better understand risks to their energy infrastructure so they can be better prepared to make informed decisions about their investments, resilience and hardening strategies, and asset management. As part of this Initiative, OE has developed a series of State and Regional Energy Risk Profiles that examine the relative magnitude of the risks that each State's energy infrastructure routinely encounters in comparison with the probable impacts.
Computer Security Risk Assessment
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
LAVA/CS (LAVA for Computer Security) is an application of the Los Alamos Vulnerability Assessment (LAVA) methodology specific to computer and information security. The software serves as a generic tool for identifying vulnerabilities in computer and information security safeguards systems. Although it does not perform a full risk assessment, the results from its analysis may provide valuable insights into security problems. LAVA/CS assumes that the system is exposed to both natural and environmental hazards and tomore » deliberate malevolent actions by either insiders or outsiders. The user in the process of answering the LAVA/CS questionnaire identifies missing safeguards in 34 areas ranging from password management to personnel security and internal audit practices. Specific safeguards protecting a generic set of assets (or targets) from a generic set of threats (or adversaries) are considered. There are four generic assets: the facility, the organization''s environment; the hardware, all computer-related hardware; the software, the information in machine-readable form stored both on-line or on transportable media; and the documents and displays, the information in human-readable form stored as hard-copy materials (manuals, reports, listings in full-size or microform), film, and screen displays. Two generic threats are considered: natural and environmental hazards, storms, fires, power abnormalities, water and accidental maintenance damage; and on-site human threats, both intentional and accidental acts attributable to a perpetrator on the facility''s premises.« less
State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative - State Energy Risk Profiles...
Mission Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative - State Energy Risk Profiles State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative - State...
Information needs for risk assessment
DeRosa, C.T.; Choudhury, H.; Schoeny, R.S.
Risk assessment can be thought of as a conceptual approach to bridge the gap between the available data and the ultimate goal of characterizing the risk or hazard associated with a particular environmental problem. To lend consistency to and to promote quality in the process, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published Guidelines for Risk Assessment of Carcinogenicity, Developmental Toxicity, Germ Cell Mutagenicity and Exposure Assessment, and Risk Assessment of Chemical Mixtures. The guidelines provide a framework for organizing the information, evaluating data, and for carrying out the risk assessment in a scientifically plausible manner. In the absence of sufficient scientific information or when abundant data are available, the guidelines provide alternative methodologies that can be employed in the risk assessment. 4 refs., 3 figs., 2 tabs.
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
TRA was developed as a computer tool for the DOE Office of River Protection (ORP) that will provides the capability to visualize and rapidly understand information about the risks associated with the River protection Project (RPP). Previously, technical and programmatic risk management within ORP had relied heavily on risk lists and other techniques that presented risk information but did not place it in perspective of the overall project. This made it difficult for ORP seniormore » management to understand the risk information presented, prioritize their activities, and provide direction to ORP staff and contractors about how to manage specific risk events. The TRA visualization tool, provides the appropriate context and perspective that allows senior management to effectively manage risks. Basically, the TRA overlays information about risks associated with specific activities and their magnitudes on top of the project baseline schedule. this provides senior management with information about the magnitudes of specific risk events as well as their timing, and allows them to focus their attention and resources on the risks that merit attention and possible further action. The TRA tool can also be used to display other types of information associated with scheduled activities, such as cost to date, technical performance, schedule performance, etc. Additionally, the base of the 3-dimensional representation can be changed to other types of graphics, such as maps, process flow diagrams, etc., which allows the display of other types of informatio, such as hazards, health and safety risks, and system availability.« less
AVLIS Criticality risk assessment
Brereton, S.J., LLNL
U-235 and uranium depleted in U-235) are cooled and accumulated in solid metallic form in canisters. The collected product and tails material is weighed and transferred into certified, critically safe, shipping containers (DOT specification 6M with 2R containment vessel). These will be temporarily stored, and then shipped offsite either for use by a fuel fabricator, or for disposal. Tails material will be packaged for disposal. A criticality risk assessment was performed for AVLIS IPD runs. In this analysis, the likelihood of occurrence of a criticality was examined. For the AVLIS process, there are a number of areas that have been specifically examined to assess whether or not the frequency of occurrence of a criticality is credible (frequency of occurrence > 10-6/yr). In this paper, we discuss only two of the areas: the separator and canister operations.
Risk Assessment/Management Tool
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
RAMTool performs the following: A tool to perform facility and programmatic risk assessments, produce risk registers, develop risk management plans (RMPs), link risks to improvement/risk-reduction projects, and actively manage risks Ability to conduct risk assessments. Ease of determination of probability and consequence based on industry standard risk matrices. Complies with site risk management performance document. Provides multiple outputs/report for required risk forms. Conduct quick risk data analysis. Performs/calculates a facility risk factormore » (RF) and a programmatic RF. Supports project and initiative prioritization and funding in order to make solid decisions on risk reduction. Assigns responsibility and accountability at a risk owner (RO) level. Monitors and tracks progress toward completing mitigation strategies. Ability to import massive amounts of data at the push of a button. Integrates development of a Risk Management Plan (RMP) Built for ease-of-use design, built, and used by technical/management personnel. Can be customized (functions and/or reports) for further analysis« less
Risk assessment in international operations
Stricklin, Daniela L.
During international peace-keeping missions, a diverse number of non-battle hazards may be encountered, which range from heavily polluted areas, endemic disease, toxic industrial materials, local violence, traffic, and even psychological factors. Hence, elevated risk levels from a variety of sources are encountered during deployments. With the emphasis within the Swedish military moving from national defense towards prioritization of international missions in atypical environments, the risk of health consequences, including long term health effects, has received greater consideration. The Swedish military is interested in designing an optimal approach for assessment of health threats during deployments. The Medical Intelligence group at FOI CBRN Security and Defence in Umea has, on request from and in collaboration with the Swedish Armed Forces, reviewed a variety of international health threat and risk assessment models for military operations. Application of risk assessment methods used in different phases of military operations will be reviewed. An overview of different international approaches used in operational risk management (ORM) will be presented as well as a discussion of the specific needs and constraints for health risk assessment in military operations. This work highlights the specific challenges of risk assessment that are unique to the deployment setting such as the assessment of exposures to a variety of diverse hazards concurrently.
The risk assessment information system
Kerr, S.B.; Bonczek, R.R.; McGinn, C.W.; Land, M.L.; Bloom, L.D.; Sample, B.E.; Dolislager, F.G.
In an effort to provide service-oriented environmental risk assessment expertise, the Department of Energy (DOE) Center for Risk Excellence (CRE) and DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office (ORO) are sponsoring Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to develop a web-based system for disseminating risk tools and information to its users. This system, the Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS), was initially developed to support the site-specific needs of the DOE-ORO Environmental Restoration Risk Assessment Program. With support from the CRE, the system is currently being expanded to benefit all DOE risk information users and can be tailored to meet site-specific needs. Taking advantage of searchable and executable databases, menu-driven queries, and data downloads, using the latest World Wide Web technologies, the RAIS offers essential tools that are used in the risk assessment process or anywhere from project scoping to implementation. The RAIS tools can be located directly at http://risk.lsd.ornl.gov/homepage/rap{_}tool.htm or through the CRE`s homepage at http://www.doe.gov/riskcenter/home.html.
Qualitative methods for assessing risk
Mahn, J.A.; Hannaman, G.W.; Kryska, P.
The Department of Energy`s (DOE) non-nuclear facilities generally require only a qualitative accident analysis to assess facility risks in accordance with DOE Order 5481.1B, Safety Analysis and Review System. Achieving a meaningful qualitative assessment of risk necessarily requires the use of suitable non-numerical assessment criteria. Typically, the methods and criteria for assigning facility-specific accident scenarios to the qualitative severity and likelihood classification system in the DOE order requires significant judgment in many applications. Systematic methods for more consistently assigning the total accident scenario frequency and associated consequences are required to substantiate and enhance future risk ranking between various activities at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). SNL`s Risk Management and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Department has developed an improved methodology for performing qualitative risk assessments in accordance wi the DOE order requirements. Products of this effort are an improved set of qualitative description that permit (1) definition of the severity for both technical and programmatic consequences that may result from a variety of accident scenarios, and (2) qualitative representation of the likelihood of occurrence. These sets of descriptions are intended to facilitate proper application of DOE criteria for assessing facility risks.
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and Safety Assessment - Sandia Energy Energy Search Icon Sandia Home Locations Contact Us Employee Locator Energy & Climate Secure & Sustainable Energy Future Stationary Power Energy Conversion Efficiency Solar Energy Wind Energy Water Power Supercritical CO2 Geothermal Natural Gas Safety, Security & Resilience of the Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Nuclear Power & Engineering Grid Modernization Battery Testing Nuclear Energy Defense Waste Management Programs Advanced
Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
The Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group (RWG) was established to assist DOE in the appropriate and effective use of quantitative risk assessment in nuclear safety related activities.
Dynamical systems probabilistic risk assessment.
Denman, Matthew R.; Ames, Arlo Leroy
Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is the primary tool used to risk-inform nuclear power regulatory and licensing activities. Risk-informed regulations are intended to reduce inherent conservatism in regulatory metrics (e.g., allowable operating conditions and technical specifications) which are built into the regulatory framework by quantifying both the total risk profile as well as the change in the risk profile caused by an event or action (e.g., in-service inspection procedures or power uprates). Dynamical Systems (DS) analysis has been used to understand unintended time-dependent feedbacks in both industrial and organizational settings. In dynamical systems analysis, feedback loops can be characterized and studied as a function of time to describe the changes to the reliability of plant Structures, Systems and Components (SSCs). While DS has been used in many subject areas, some even within the PRA community, it has not been applied toward creating long-time horizon, dynamic PRAs (with time scales ranging between days and decades depending upon the analysis). Understanding slowly developing dynamic effects, such as wear-out, on SSC reliabilities may be instrumental in ensuring a safely and reliably operating nuclear fleet. Improving the estimation of a plant's continuously changing risk profile will allow for more meaningful risk insights, greater stakeholder confidence in risk insights, and increased operational flexibility.
Integrated Disposal Facility Risk Assessment
An environmental risk assessment associated with the disposal of projected Immobilized Low-Activity Waste, solid wastes and failed or decommissioned melters in an Integrated Disposal Facility was performed. Based on the analyses all performance objectives associated with the groundwater, air, and intruder pathways were met.
Incinerator thermal release valve risk assessment
Stevens, J.B.
Human health risk assessments were conducted on emissions from several types of incinerators--a hazardous waste combustor, a medical waste/tire combustor, and a refuse derived fuel combustor in three different states. As part of these studies, the short-term emissions from thermal release valves operating during upset conditions were additionally evaluated. The latter assessments addressed two specific risk-related questions: (1) what are the incremental long-term risks/hazards associated with these short-term emissions; (2) what are the acute health hazards associated with these emissions? For each study, emission estimates for both the incinerator stack and the thermal release valve were obtained from the facility. Stack testing was utilized to obtain stack gas concentrations of emissions at one facility; engineering estimates were used to ascertain emissions from the thermal release valve. The two facilities were proposed incinerators, so literature-derived emissions were used throughout.
Risk assessment based on point source deposition
Chadwick, G.F.
The International Joint Commission (IJC) in a recently published report states that various clean-up techniques have resulted in significantly cleaner lakes than 20 years ago. Both the US EPA and Environment Canada have passed laws that require emissions controls on significant sources of contaminants. Improved emission controls have played a large part in the reduced pollution levels to the Great Lakes. Improved controls have significantly reduced the pollutants deposited to both land and water. This paper will discuss a Risk Analysis for the emissions from a Hospital in Rochester, New York. Current New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) regulations require emission controls on such incinerators. This hospital has added both a scrubber and a bag house to control emissions. Twenty years ago, such incinerators, like many other emission sources would not have had control devices. New York`s Department of Environmental Conservation requires, as part of the Permitting process, that an Impact Analysis and if required, a multipathway Health Risk Assessment (HRA) be performed for all Medical Waste Incinerators before a Permit can be issued. This insures that the emissions will not create a health hazard to humans. Such an analysis was performed for a new 1,000 lb/hr Medical Waste Incinerator (MWI) installed in the North-East part of Rochester, New York. An Air Quality Impact Assessment (AQIA) based on an actual stack test indicated that this facility`s dioxin emissions would exceed the NY DEC Guideline levels. The Carcinogenic Risk (of death) for our most exposed individual (MEI) was calculated to be 8.75 E{sup {minus}06} (<1:100,000). The Hazard Index calculated for this MEI was 0.43. Hazard Index`s less then 1 are considered a reasonable risk. Health risk assessments are by design, very conservative. EPA sources have concluded that calculated death risks between one (1) and one hundred (100) per million are not excessive.
Uncertainties in risk assessment at USDOE facilities
Hamilton, L.D.; Holtzman, S.; Meinhold, A.F.; Morris, S.C.; Rowe, M.D.
The United States Department of Energy (USDOE) has embarked on an ambitious program to remediate environmental contamination at its facilities. Decisions concerning cleanup goals, choices among cleanup technologies, and funding prioritization should be largely risk-based. Risk assessments will be used more extensively by the USDOE in the future. USDOE needs to develop and refine risk assessment methods and fund research to reduce major sources of uncertainty in risk assessments at USDOE facilities. The terms{open_quote} risk assessment{close_quote} and{open_quote} risk management{close_quote} are frequently confused. The National Research Council (1983) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA, 1991a) described risk assessment as a scientific process that contributes to risk management. Risk assessment is the process of collecting, analyzing and integrating data and information to identify hazards, assess exposures and dose responses, and characterize risks. Risk characterization must include a clear presentation of {open_quotes}... the most significant data and uncertainties...{close_quotes} in an assessment. Significant data and uncertainties are {open_quotes}...those that define and explain the main risk conclusions{close_quotes}. Risk management integrates risk assessment information with other considerations, such as risk perceptions, socioeconomic and political factors, and statutes, to make and justify decisions. Risk assessments, as scientific processes, should be made independently of the other aspects of risk management (USEPA, 1991a), but current methods for assessing health risks are based on conservative regulatory principles, causing unnecessary public concern and misallocation of funds for remediation.
Core sampling system spare parts assessment
Walter, E.J.
Soon, there will be 4 independent core sampling systems obtaining samples from the underground tanks. It is desirable that these systems be available for sampling during the next 2 years. This assessment was prepared to evaluate the adequacy of the spare parts identified for the core sampling system and to provide recommendations that may remediate overages or inadequacies of spare parts.
Mathematical models for risk assessment
Zaikin, S.A.
The use of mathematical models in risk assessment results in the proper understanding of many aspects of chemical exposure and allows to make more actual decisions. Our project ISCRA (Integrated Systems of Complex Risk Assessment) has the aim to create integrated systems of algorythms for prediction of pollutants` exposure on human and environmental health and to apply them for environmental monitoring, and decision-making. Mathematical model {open_quotes}MASTER{close_quotes} (Mathematical Algorythm of SimulaTion of Environmental Risk) represents the complex of algorythmical blocks and is intended for the prediction of danger of pollutants` exposure for human and environmental risk. Model LIMES (LIMits EStimation) is developed for prognosis of safety concentrations of pollutants in the environment both in the case of isolated exposure and in the case of complex exposure for concrete location. Model QUANT (QUANtity of Toxicant) represents the multicompartmental physiological pharmacokinetic model describing absorption, distribution, fate, metabolism, and elimination of pollutants in the body of different groups of human population, as a result of the different kind of exposure. Decision support system CLEVER (Complex LEVE1 of Risk) predicts the probability and the degree of development of unfavourable effects as result of exposure of pollutant on human health. System is based on the data of epidemiological and experimental researches and includes several mathematical models for analysis of {open_quotes}dose-time-response{close_quotes} relations and information about clinical symptoms of diseases. Model CEP (Combination Effect Prognosis) contains probabilistic algorythms for forecasting the effect of simultaneous impact of several factors polluting the environment. The result of the program work is the prediction of an independent exposure of two or more factors, and intensification or weakening of exposure in depending on factors` interactions.
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
The Risk Assessment Technical Expert Working Group (RWG) is established to assist the Department of Energy (DOE) with the appropriate and effective use of quantitative risk assessment in nuclear...
EPA`s risk assessment guidelines: Overview
Patton, D.E.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) risk assessment guidelines for cancer, quantification, and exposure issues are discussed.
Hydrogen Risk Assessment Model (HyRAM)
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Energy Storage Components and Systems Batteries Electric Drive Systems Hydrogen Materials & Components Compatibility Hydrogen Behavior Quantitative Risk Assessment Technical ...
A review of ground-based heavy-ion radiobiology relevant to space radiation risk assessment: Part II. Cardiovascular and immunological effects
Blakely, Eleanor A.; Chang, Polly Y.
The future of manned space flight depends on an analysis of the numerous potential risks of travel into deep space. Currently no radiation dose limits have been established for these exploratory missions. To set these standards more information is needed about potential acute and late effects on human physiology from appropriate radiation exposure scenarios, including pertinent radiation types and dose rates. Cancer risks have long been considered the most serious late effect from chronic daily relatively low-dose exposures to the complex space radiation environment. However, other late effects from space radiation exposure scenarios are under study in ground-based accelerator facilities and have revealed some unique particle radiation effects not observed with conventional radiations. A comprehensive review of pertinent literature that considers tissue effects of radiation leading to functional detriments in specific organ systems has recently been published (NCRP National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements, Information Needed to Make Radiation Protection Recommendations for Space Missions Beyond Low-Earth Orbit, Report 153, Bethesda, MD, 2006). This paper highlights the review of two non-cancer concerns from this report: cardiovascular and immunological effects.
Webinar: Genetically Modified Algae: A Risk-Benefit Assessment...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Algae: A Risk-Benefit Assessment Webinar: Genetically Modified Algae: A Risk-Benefit Assessment Genetically Modified (GM) Algae: A Risk-Benefit Assessment PDF icon...
River Corridor Baseline Risk Assessment (RCBRA) Human Health...
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
12, 2011 River Corridor Baseline Risk Assessment (RCBRA) Human Health Risk Assessment (Volume 2) * RCBRA Human Health Risk Assessment is final - Response provided to HAB ...
Hanford Site baseline risk assessment methodology. Revision 2
Not Available
This methodology has been developed to prepare human health and environmental evaluations of risk as part of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act remedial investigations (RIs) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act facility investigations (FIs) performed at the Hanford Site pursuant to the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order referred to as the Tri-Party Agreement. Development of the methodology has been undertaken so that Hanford Site risk assessments are consistent with current regulations and guidance, while providing direction on flexible, ambiguous, or undefined aspects of the guidance. The methodology identifies Site-specific risk assessment considerations and integrates them with approaches for evaluating human and environmental risk that can be factored into the risk assessment program supporting the Hanford Site cleanup mission. Consequently, the methodology will enhance the preparation and review of individual risk assessments at the Hanford Site.
Advanced Test Reactor outage risk assessment
Thatcher, T.A.; Atkinson, S.A.
Beginning in 1997, risk assessment was performed for each Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) outage aiding the coordination of plant configuration and work activities (maintenance, construction projects, etc.) to minimize the risk of reactor fuel damage and to improve defense-in-depth. The risk assessment activities move beyond simply meeting Technical Safety Requirements to increase the awareness of risk sensitive configurations, to focus increased attention on the higher risk activities, and to seek cost-effective design or operational changes that reduce risk. A detailed probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) had been performed to assess the risk of fuel damage during shutdown operations including heavy load handling. This resulted in several design changes to improve safety; however, evaluation of individual outages had not been performed previously and many risk insights were not being utilized in outage planning. The shutdown PRA provided the necessary framework for assessing relative and absolute risk levels and assessing defense-in-depth. Guidelines were written identifying combinations of equipment outages to avoid. Screening criteria were developed for the selection of work activities to receive review. Tabulation of inherent and work-related initiating events and their relative risk level versus plant mode has aided identification of the risk level the scheduled work involves. Preoutage reviews are conducted and post-outage risk assessment is documented to summarize the positive and negative aspects of the outage with regard to risk. The risk for the outage is compared to the risk level that would result from optimal scheduling of the work to be performed and to baseline or average past performance.
Risk communication in environmental assessment
Rahm-Crites, L.
Since the enactment of NEPA and other environmental legislation, the concept of `risk communication` has expanded from simply providing citizens with scientific information about risk to exploring ways of making risk information genuinely meaningful to the public and facilitating public involvement in the very processes whereby risk is analyzed and managed. Contemporary risk communication efforts attempt to find more effective ways of conveying increasingly complex risk information and to develop more democratic and proactive approaches to community involvement, in particular to ensuring the participation of diverse populations in risk decisions. Although considerable progress has been made in a relatively short time, risk communication researchers and practitioners currently face a number of challenges in a time of high expectations, low trust, and low budgets.
State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative | Department of Energy
Mission Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative OE is leading a State Energy Risk...
Study of field assessment methods and worker risks for processing alternatives to support principles for FUSRAP waste materials. Part 1: Treatment methods and comparative risks of thorium removal from waste residues
Porter, R.D.; Hamby, D.M.; Martin, J.E.
This study was done to examine the risks of remediation and the effectiveness of removal methods for thorium and its associated radioactive decay products from various soils and wastes associated with DOE`s Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP). Its purpose was to provide information to the Environmental Management Advisory Board`s FUSRAP Committee for use in its deliberation of guiding principles for FUSRAP sites, in particular the degree to which treatment should be considered in the FUSRAP Committee`s recommendations. Treatment of FUSRAP wastes to remove thorium could be beneficial to management of lands that contain thorium if such treatment were effective and cost efficient. It must be recognized, however, that treatment methods invariably require workers to process residues and waste materials usually with bulk handling techniques. These processes expose workers to the radioactivity in the materials, therefore, workers would incur radiological risks in addition to industrial accident risks. An important question is whether the potential reduction of future radiological risks to members of the public justifies the risks that are incurred by remediation workers due to handling materials. This study examines, first, the effectiveness of treatment and then the risks that would be associated with remediation. Both types of information should be useful for decisions on whether and how to apply thorium removal methods to FUSRAP waste materials.
EPA`s program for risk assessment guidelines: Quantification issues
Dourson, M.L.
The quantitative procedures associated with noncancer risk assessment include reference dose (RfD), benchmark dose, and severity modeling. The RfD, which is part of the EPA risk assessment guidelines, is an estimation of a level that is likely to be without any health risk to sensitive individuals. The RfD requires two major judgments: the first is choice of a critical effect(s) and its No Observed Adverse Effect Level (NOAEL); the second judgment is choice of an uncertainty factor. This paper discusses major assumptions and limitations of the RfD model.
Proliferation and Terrorism Risk Assessment
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
The objective of the PTRA program is to develop new tools and approaches for understanding, limiting, and managing the risks of proliferation and physical security for fuel cycle options. NE, in...
Reference manual for toxicity and exposure assessment and risk characterization. CERCLA Baseline Risk Assessment
The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, 1980) (CERCLA or Superfund) was enacted to provide a program for identifying and responding to releases of hazardous substances into the environment. The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act (SARA, 1986) was enacted to strengthen CERCLA by requiring that site clean-ups be permanent, and that they use treatments that significantly reduce the volume, toxicity, or mobility of hazardous pollutants. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) (USEPA, 1985; USEPA, 1990) implements the CERCLA statute, presenting a process for (1) identifying and prioritizing sites requiring remediation and (2) assessing the extent of remedial action required at each site. The process includes performing two studies: a Remedial Investigation (RI) to evaluate the nature, extent, and expected consequences of site contamination, and a Feasibility Study (FS) to select an appropriate remedial alternative adequate to reduce such risks to acceptable levels. An integral part of the RI is the evaluation of human health risks posed by hazardous substance releases. This risk evaluation serves a number of purposes within the overall context of the RI/FS process, the most essential of which is to provide an understanding of ``baseline`` risks posed by a given site. Baseline risks are those risks that would exist if no remediation or institutional controls are applied at a site. This document was written to (1) guide risk assessors through the process of interpreting EPA BRA policy and (2) help risk assessors to discuss EPA policy with regulators, decision makers, and stakeholders as it relates to conditions at a particular DOE site.
A new approach to criteria for health risk assessment
Spickett, Jeffery; Katscherian, Dianne; Goh, Yang Miang
Health Impact Assessment (HIA) is a developing component of the overall impact assessment process and as such needs access to procedures that can enable more consistent approaches to the stepwise process that is now generally accepted in both EIA and HIA. The guidelines developed during this project provide a structured process, based on risk assessment procedures which use consequences and likelihood, as a way of ranking risks to adverse health outcomes from activities subjected to HIA or HIA as part of EIA. The aim is to assess the potential for both acute and chronic health outcomes. The consequences component also identifies a series of consequences for the health care system, depicted as expressions of financial expenditure and the capacity of the health system. These more specific health risk assessment characteristics should provide for a broader consideration of health consequences and a more consistent estimation of the adverse health risks of a proposed development at both the scoping and risk assessment stages of the HIA process. - Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer A more objective approach to health risk assessment is provided. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An objective set of criteria for the consequences for chronic and acute impacts. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An objective set of criteria for the consequences on the health care system. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer An objective set of criteria for event frequency that could impact on health. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The approach presented is currently being trialled in Australia.
A framework for combining social impact assessment and risk assessment
Mahmoudi, Hossein; Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, G.C. ; Renn, Ortwin; Vanclay, Frank; Hoffmann, Volker; Karami, Ezatollah
An increasing focus on integrative approaches is one of the current trends in impact assessment. There is potential to combine impact assessment with various other forms of assessment, such as risk assessment, to make impact assessment and the management of social risks more effective. We identify the common features of social impact assessment (SIA) and social risk assessment (SRA), and discuss the merits of a combined approach. A hybrid model combining SIA and SRA to form a new approach called, 'risk and social impact assessment' (RSIA) is introduced. RSIA expands the capacity of SIA to evaluate and manage the social impacts of risky projects such as nuclear energy as well as natural hazards and disasters such as droughts and floods. We outline the three stages of RSIA, namely: impact identification, impact assessment, and impact management. -- Highlights: • A hybrid model to combine SIA and SRA namely RSIA is proposed. • RSIA can provide the proper mechanism to assess social impacts of natural hazards. • RSIA can play the role of ex-post as well as ex-ante assessment. • For some complicated and sensitive cases like nuclear energy, conducting a RSIA is necessary.
Preliminary Risk Assessment Associated with IGSCC of BWR Vessel Internals
A. Ware; K. Morton; M. Nitzel; N. Chokshi; T-Y. Chang
BWR core shrouds and other reactor internals important to safety are experiencing intergranular stress corrosion cracking (IGSCC). The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has followed the problem, and as part of its investigations, contracted with the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) to conduct a risk assessment. The overall project objective is to assess the potential consequences and risks associated with the failure of IGSCC-susceptible BWR vessel internals, with specific consideration given to potential cascading and common mode effects. The paper presents an overview of the program, discusses the results of a preliminary qualitative assessment, and summarizes a simplified risk assessment that was conducted on sequences resulting from failures of jet pump components of a BWR/4 plant.
Assessing Coal Unit Retirement Risk
U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Indexed Site
Ventures Analysis 1901 N. Moore St. Arlington, VA 22209 (703) 276 8900 A S S E S S I N G C O A L U N I T R E T I R E M E N T R I S K Tom Hewson Principal June 14, 2016 Presentation for the US Energy Information Administration Workshop Coal Fleet Aging 1 COAL CAPACITY CHALLENGES E N E R G Y V E N T U R E S A N A L Y S I S , I N C . Environmental Regulatory Risk-- Compliance often requires coal units to make large capital investment in additional retrofit control measures and/or increase their
Risk assessment as a framework for decisions.
Rechard, Robert Paul; McKenna, Sean Andrew; Borns, David James
The risk assessment approach has been applied to support numerous radioactive waste management activities over the last 30 years. A risk assessment methodology provides a solid and readily adaptable framework for evaluating the risks of CO2 sequestration in geologic formations to prioritize research, data collection, and monitoring schemes. This paper reviews the tasks of a risk assessment, and provides a few examples related to each task. This paper then describes an application of sensitivity analysis to identify important parameters to reduce the uncertainty in the performance of a geologic repository for radioactive waste repository, which because of importance of the geologic barrier, is similar to CO2 sequestration. The paper ends with a simple stochastic analysis of idealized CO2 sequestration site with a leaking abandoned well and a set of monitoring wells in an aquifer above the CO2 sequestration unit in order to evaluate the efficacy of monitoring wells to detect adverse leakage.
Nuclear Risk Assessment for the Mars 2020 Mission Environmental...
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
Technical Report: Nuclear Risk Assessment for the Mars 2020 Mission Environmental Impact Statement Citation Details In-Document Search Title: Nuclear Risk Assessment for the Mars ...
Overview of HyRAM (Hydrogen Risk Assessment Models) Software...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
HyRAM (Hydrogen Risk Assessment Models) Software for Science-Based Safety, Codes, and Standards Webinar Overview of HyRAM (Hydrogen Risk Assessment Models) Software for ...
State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative | Department...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Mission Energy Infrastructure Modeling and Analysis State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative The Office of...
RAVEN and Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment: Software overview...
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
RAVEN and Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment: Software overview Citation Details In-Document Search Title: RAVEN and Dynamic Probabilistic Risk Assessment: Software overview ...
Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment | Department of Energy
Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment Spent Fuel Transportation Risk Assessment SFTRA Overview Contents Project and review teams Purpose and goals Basic methodology ...
Approaches to cancer assessment in EPA's Integrated Risk Information System
Gehlhaus, Martin W.; Gift, Jeffrey S.; Hogan, Karen A.; Kopylev, Leonid; Schlosser, Paul M.; Kadry, Abdel-Razak
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Program develops assessments of health effects that may result from chronic exposure to chemicals in the environment. The IRIS database contains more than 540 assessments. When supported by available data, IRIS assessments provide quantitative analyses of carcinogenic effects. Since publication of EPA's 2005 Guidelines for Carcinogen Risk Assessment, IRIS cancer assessments have implemented new approaches recommended in these guidelines and expanded the use of complex scientific methods to perform quantitative dose-response assessments. Two case studies of the application of the mode of action framework from the 2005 Cancer Guidelines are presented in this paper. The first is a case study of 1,2,3-trichloropropane, as an example of a chemical with a mutagenic mode of carcinogenic action thus warranting the application of age-dependent adjustment factors for early-life exposure; the second is a case study of ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, as an example of a chemical with a carcinogenic action consistent with a nonlinear extrapolation approach. The use of physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling to quantify interindividual variability and account for human parameter uncertainty as part of a quantitative cancer assessment is illustrated using a case study involving probabilistic PBPK modeling for dichloromethane. We also discuss statistical issues in assessing trends and model fit for tumor dose-response data, analysis of the combined risk from multiple types of tumors, and application of life-table methods for using human data to derive cancer risk estimates. These issues reflect the complexity and challenges faced in assessing the carcinogenic risks from exposure to environmental chemicals, and provide a view of the current trends in IRIS carcinogenicity risk assessment.
Resource handbook on transportation risk assessment.
Chen, S. Y.; Biwer, B. M.; Monette, F. A.; Environmental Assessment; SNL; BAPL; USOE; Battelle Memorial Inst.
This resource handbook contains useful information to streamline radioactive material transportation risk assessments for National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documents prepared for U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) programs. Streamlining refers to instituting steps that can increase the efficiency of future assessments, reduce costs, and promote increased quality and consistency across the DOE complex. This handbook takes advantage of the wealth of information developed through decades of DOE's NEPA experience. It contains a review of historical assessments; a description of comprehensive and generally acceptable transportation risk assessment methodology (i.e., models); and a compilation of supporting data, parameters, and generally accepted assumptions. This handbook also includes a discussion paper that addresses cumulative impacts (Appendix A). The discussion paper illustrates the evolving and sometimes unresolved issues encountered in transportation risk assessment. Other topics, such as sabotage, environmental justice, and human factors, may be addressed in the future. This resource document was developed as the first primary reference book providing useful information for conducting transportation risk assessments for radioactive material in the NEPA context.
Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Rule, 10 CFR Part 433 |
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Department of Energy Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Rule, 10 CFR Part 433 Draft Environmental Assessment for Proposed Rule, 10 CFR Part 433 Document details a the draft environmental assessment for proposed rule 10 CFR Part 433, Energy Conservation and Fossil Fuel-Generated Energy Consumption Reduction Standards for the Design and Construction of New Federal Commercial and Multi-Family High-Rise Residential Buildings Download the draft environmental assessment for proposed rule
Assessment of health risks of policies
Ádám, Balázs; Molnár, Ágnes; Ádány, Róza; Bianchi, Fabrizio; Bitenc, Katarina; Chereches, Razvan; Cori, Liliana; Fehr, Rainer; Kobza, Joanna; Kollarova, Jana; and others
The assessment of health risks of policies is an inevitable, although challenging prerequisite for the inclusion of health considerations in political decision making. The aim of our project was to develop a so far missing methodological guide for the assessment of the complex impact structure of policies. The guide was developed in a consensual way based on experiences gathered during the assessment of specific national policies selected by the partners of an EU project. Methodological considerations were discussed and summarized in workshops and pilot tested on the EU Health Strategy for finalization. The combined tool, which includes a textual guidance and a checklist, follows the top-down approach, that is, it guides the analysis of causal chains from the policy through related health determinants and risk factors to health outcomes. The tool discusses the most important practical issues of assessment by impact level. It emphasises the transparent identification and prioritisation of factors, the consideration of the feasibility of exposure and outcome assessment with special focus on quantification. The developed guide provides useful methodological instructions for the comprehensive assessment of health risks of policies that can be effectively used in the health impact assessment of policy proposals. - Highlights: • Methodological guide for the assessment of health risks of policies is introduced. • The tool is developed based on the experiences from several case studies. • The combined tool consists of a textual guidance and a checklist. • The top-down approach is followed through the levels of the full impact chain. • The guide provides assistance for the health impact assessment of policy proposals.
A total risk assessment methodology for security assessment.
Aguilar, Richard; Pless, Daniel J.; Kaplan, Paul Garry; Silva, Consuelo Juanita; Rhea, Ronald Edward; Wyss, Gregory Dane; Conrad, Stephen Hamilton
Sandia National Laboratories performed a two-year Laboratory Directed Research and Development project to develop a new collaborative risk assessment method to enable decision makers to fully consider the interrelationships between threat, vulnerability, and consequence. A five-step Total Risk Assessment Methodology was developed to enable interdisciplinary collaborative risk assessment by experts from these disciplines. The objective of this process is promote effective risk management by enabling analysts to identify scenarios that are simultaneously achievable by an adversary, desirable to the adversary, and of concern to the system owner or to society. The basic steps are risk identification, collaborative scenario refinement and evaluation, scenario cohort identification and risk ranking, threat chain mitigation analysis, and residual risk assessment. The method is highly iterative, especially with regard to scenario refinement and evaluation. The Total Risk Assessment Methodology includes objective consideration of relative attack likelihood instead of subjective expert judgment. The 'probability of attack' is not computed, but the relative likelihood for each scenario is assessed through identifying and analyzing scenario cohort groups, which are groups of scenarios with comparable qualities to the scenario being analyzed at both this and other targets. Scenarios for the target under consideration and other targets are placed into cohort groups under an established ranking process that reflects the following three factors: known targeting, achievable consequences, and the resources required for an adversary to have a high likelihood of success. The development of these target cohort groups implements, mathematically, the idea that adversaries are actively choosing among possible attack scenarios and avoiding scenarios that would be significantly suboptimal to their objectives. An adversary who can choose among only a few comparable targets and scenarios (a
Health effects of risk-assessment categories
Kramer, C.F.; Rybicka, K.; Knutson, A.; Morris, S.C.
Environmental and occupational health effects associated with exposures to various chemicals are a subject of increasing concern. One recently developed methodology for assessing the health impacts of various chemical compounds involves the classification of similar chemicals into risk-assessment categories (RACs). This report reviews documented human health effects for a broad range of pollutants, classified by RACs. It complements other studies that have estimated human health effects by RAC based on analysis and extrapolation of data from animal research.
Resources for global risk assessment: The International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER) and Risk Information Exchange (RiskIE) databases
Wullenweber, Andrea Kroner, Oliver; Kohrman, Melissa; Maier, Andrew; Dourson, Michael; Rak, Andrew; Wexler, Philip; Tomljanovic, Chuck
The rate of chemical synthesis and use has outpaced the development of risk values and the resolution of risk assessment methodology questions. In addition, available risk values derived by different organizations may vary due to scientific judgments, mission of the organization, or use of more recently published data. Further, each organization derives values for a unique chemical list so it can be challenging to locate data on a given chemical. Two Internet resources are available to address these issues. First, the International Toxicity Estimates for Risk (ITER) database ( (www.tera.org/iter)) provides chronic human health risk assessment data from a variety of organizations worldwide in a side-by-side format, explains differences in risk values derived by different organizations, and links directly to each organization's website for more detailed information. It is also the only database that includes risk information from independent parties whose risk values have undergone independent peer review. Second, the Risk Information Exchange (RiskIE) is a database of in progress chemical risk assessment work, and includes non-chemical information related to human health risk assessment, such as training modules, white papers and risk documents. RiskIE is available at (http://www.allianceforrisk.org/RiskIE.htm), and will join ITER on National Library of Medicine's TOXNET ( (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/)). Together, ITER and RiskIE provide risk assessors essential tools for easily identifying and comparing available risk data, for sharing in progress assessments, and for enhancing interaction among risk assessment groups to decrease duplication of effort and to harmonize risk assessment procedures across organizations.
Risk Assessment Tool - DOE Directives, Delegations, and Requirements
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group The Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group (RWG) is established to assist DOE in the appropriate and effective use of quantitative risk assessment in nuclear safety related activities. The activities of the group will help DOE ensure that risk assessments supporting nuclear safety decisions are conducted in a consistent manner, of appropriate quality, properly tailored to the needs of the
Geothermal Energy Resource Assessment of Parts of Alaska | Open...
Jump to: navigation, search OpenEI Reference LibraryAdd to library Journal Article: Geothermal Energy Resource Assessment of Parts of Alaska Abstract Under the sponsorship of...
Sitewide biological risk assessment Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska: Risks to terrestrial receptors from diverse contaminants
Brandt, C.A.; Becker, J.M.
Eielson Air Force Base (AFB) is located southeast of Fairbanks, Alaska. Eielson AFB was listed by the US Environmental Protection Agency on the National Priorities List with a total of 64 potential terrestrial and aquatic source areas. Contaminants of concern include fuel and fuel components, pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and lead. As part of the remedial investigations of these sites, a biological risk assessment (BRA) was conducted to estimate the risk of ecological effects on terrestrial receptors posed by contaminants in the Eielson environment. There are 32 mammal species, 117 bird species, 17 fish species, and 1 amphibian species known to inhabit Eielson AFB and vicinity. The BRA screened source areas based on completed biological exposure pathways, selected receptors for analysis, estimated exposure of receptors to contaminants, and compared these exposures to known toxicological effects. Lower Garrison Slough and Flightline Pond posed a substantial risk for shrikes and goshawks. Ingestion of PCBs constituted the primary pathway/contaminant combination contributing to this risk. The effects of the various sources of uncertainty in the ingestion exposure calculations for these sites were evaluated in a probabilistic risk assessment using Monte Carlo methods. There was an 11% risk of reproductive effects from PCBs for goshawks feeding from Flightline Pond and a 25 % risk from lower Garrison Slough. There was an 81 % risk of reproductive effects from PCB exposure for shrikes feeding near lower Garrison Slough.
Code System for Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment.
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
Version 00 SEISIM1 calculates the probabilities of seismically induced failures for components and systems and propagates these calculations to determine the probability of accident sequences and the resulting total risk, which is quantified as an expected value of radiation release and exposure from a given nuclear power plant. SEISIM1 was developed as a fundamental tool for the systems analysis portion of the NRC's Seismic Safety Margins Research Program (SSMRP). The SSMRP provides a complete, self-containedmore » methodology to assess and quantify the risk to nuclear power plants from seismic events and seismically induced failures.« less
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Seismic Risk Assessment Project:
Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Implementation of Proposed Methodology at INL and Associated Risk Studies | Department of Energy Risk Assessment Project: Implementation of Proposed Methodology at INL and Associated Risk Studies Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Seismic Risk Assessment Project: Implementation of Proposed Methodology at INL and Associated Risk Studies Presentation from the May 2015 Seismic Lessons-Learned Panel Meeting. INL Seismic Risk Assessment Project: Implementation of Proposed Methodology at INL and
Simulation and Risk Assessment for Carbon Storage | Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Science & Innovation » Carbon Capture and Storage » Simulation and Risk Assessment for Carbon Storage Simulation and Risk Assessment for Carbon Storage Research in simulation and risk assessment is focused on development of advanced simulation models of the subsurface and integration of the results into a risk assessment that includes both technical and programmatic risks. Simulation models are critical for predicting the flow of the CO2 in the target formations, chemical changes that may
Supplemental Hazard Analysis and Risk Assessment - Hydrotreater
Lowry, Peter P.; Wagner, Katie A.
A supplemental hazard analysis was conducted and quantitative risk assessment performed in response to an independent review comment received by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) from the U.S. Department of Energy Pacific Northwest Field Office (PNSO) against the Hydrotreater/Distillation Column Hazard Analysis Report issued in April 2013. The supplemental analysis used the hazardous conditions documented by the previous April 2013 report as a basis. The conditions were screened and grouped for the purpose of identifying whether additional prudent, practical hazard controls could be identified, using a quantitative risk evaluation to assess the adequacy of the controls and establish a lower level of concern for the likelihood of potential serious accidents. Calculations were performed to support conclusions where necessary.
Risk assessment meta tool LDRD final report.
Bouchard, Ann Marie; Osbourn, Gordon Cecil
The goal of this project was to develop a risk analysis meta tool--a tool that enables security analysts both to combine and analyze data from multiple other risk assessment tools on demand. Our approach was based on the innovative self-assembling software technology under development by the project team. This technology provides a mechanism for the user to specify his intentions at a very high level (e.g., equations or English-like text), and then the code self-assembles itself, taking care of the implementation details. The first version of the meta tool focused specifically in importing and analyzing data from Joint Conflict and Tactical Simulation (JCATS) force-on-force simulation. We discuss the problem, our approach, technical risk, and accomplishments on this project, and outline next steps to be addressed with follow-on funding.
Chernobyl accident: A comprehensive risk assessment
Vargo, G.J.; Poyarkov, V.; Baryakhtar, V.; Kukhar, V.; Los, I.
The authors, all of whom are Ukrainian and Russian scientists involved with Chernobyl nuclear power plant since the April 1986 accident, present a comprehensive review of the accident. In addition, they present a risk assessment of the remains of the destroyed reactor and its surrounding shelter, Chernobyl radioactive waste storage and disposal sites, and environmental contamination in the region. The authors explore such questions as the risks posed by a collapse of the shelter, radionuclide migration from storage and disposal facilities in the exclusion zone, and transfer from soil to vegetation and its potential regional impact. The answers to these questions provide a scientific basis for the development of countermeasures against the Chernobyl accident in particular and the mitigation of environmental radioactive contamination in general. They also provide an important basis for understanding the human health and ecological risks posed by the accident.
Survey of Tools for Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages
Papic, Milorad; Bell, Keith; Chen, Yousu; Dobson, Ian; Fonte, Louis; Haq, Enamul; Hines, Paul; Kirschen, Daniel; Luo, Xiaochuan; Miller, Stephen; Samaan, Nader A.; Vaiman, Marianna; Varghese, Matthew; Zhang, Pei
Cascading failure can cause large blackouts, and a variety of methods are emerging to study this challenging topic. In parts 1 and 2 of this paper, the IEEE task force on cascading failure seeks to consolidate and review the progress of the field towards methods and tools of assessing the risk of cascading failure. Part 2 summarizes and discusses the state of the art in the available cascading failure modeling tools. The discussion integrates industry and research perspectives from a variety of institutions. Strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in current approaches are indicated.
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) Seismic Risk Assessment Project...
Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Seismic Risk Assessment Project: Implementation of Proposed Methodology at INL and Associated Risk Studies Presentation from the May 2015 Seismic Lessons-Learned Panel Meeting. ...
State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative - State and Regional...
Broader source: Energy.gov (indexed) [DOE]
OE is leading a State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative to help States better understand risks to their energy infrastructure so they can be better prepared to make informed...
The Role Risk Assessments Have Played in Proposed CERCLA Decision...
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Applicable Relevant and Appropriate Requirements Examples: Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Air Emissions Regulations * Policy * Risk Assessment * Risk Management *...
Improving Risk Assessment to Support State Energy Infrastructure...
of the electric, petroleum, and natural gas infrastructures, and provide valuable ... A better understanding of risk facilitates integration of energy risk assessment into ...
Hydrogen Risk Assessment Model (HyRAM)
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Risk Assessment Model (HyRAM) - Sandia Energy Energy Search Icon Sandia Home Locations Contact Us Employee Locator Energy & Climate Secure & Sustainable Energy Future Stationary Power Energy Conversion Efficiency Solar Energy Wind Energy Water Power Supercritical CO2 Geothermal Natural Gas Safety, Security & Resilience of the Energy Infrastructure Energy Storage Nuclear Power & Engineering Grid Modernization Battery Testing Nuclear Energy Defense Waste Management Programs
EPA`s program for risk assessment guidelines: Cancer classification issues
Wiltse, J.
Issues presented are related to classification of weight of evidence in cancer risk assessments. The focus in this paper is on lines of evidence used in constructing a conclusion about potential human carcinogenicity. The paper also discusses issues that are mistakenly addressed as classification issues but are really part of the risk assessment process. 2 figs.
A risk assessment software tool for evaluating potential risks to human health and the environment
Drendel, G.; Allen, B.; Gentry, R.; Shipp, A.; Van Landingham, C.
The Ecology and National Environmental Policy Act Division (END), is providing a sitewide evaluation of alternative strategies for the final disposition of the Rocky Flats Plant material inventory. This analysis is known as the Systems Engineering Analysis (SEA) for the Rocky Flats Plant. The primary intent of the SEA is to support the Rocky Flats Plant decision-making. As part of the SEA project, a risk assessment software tool has been developed which will assist in the analysis by providing an evaluation of potential risks to human health and the environment for the purpose of augmenting future decisions at the site.
A classification scheme for risk assessment methods.
Stamp, Jason Edwin; Campbell, Philip LaRoche
This report presents a classification scheme for risk assessment methods. This scheme, like all classification schemes, provides meaning by imposing a structure that identifies relationships. Our scheme is based on two orthogonal aspects--level of detail, and approach. The resulting structure is shown in Table 1 and is explained in the body of the report. Each cell in the Table represent a different arrangement of strengths and weaknesses. Those arrangements shift gradually as one moves through the table, each cell optimal for a particular situation. The intention of this report is to enable informed use of the methods so that a method chosen is optimal for a situation given. This report imposes structure on the set of risk assessment methods in order to reveal their relationships and thus optimize their usage.We present a two-dimensional structure in the form of a matrix, using three abstraction levels for the rows and three approaches for the columns. For each of the nine cells in the matrix we identify the method type by name and example. The matrix helps the user understand: (1) what to expect from a given method, (2) how it relates to other methods, and (3) how best to use it. Each cell in the matrix represent a different arrangement of strengths and weaknesses. Those arrangements shift gradually as one moves through the table, each cell optimal for a particular situation. The intention of this report is to enable informed use of the methods so that a method chosen is optimal for a situation given. The matrix, with type names in the cells, is introduced in Table 2 on page 13 below. Unless otherwise stated we use the word 'method' in this report to refer to a 'risk assessment method', though often times we use the full phrase. The use of the terms 'risk assessment' and 'risk management' are close enough that we do not attempt to distinguish them in this report. The remainder of this report is organized as follows. In Section 2 we provide context for this report
Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Charter Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Charter Charter ...
List of Topics for Interagency Performance & Risk Assessment...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
& Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Discussion List of Topics for Interagency Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Discussion List of ...
Baseline ecological risk assessment Salmon Site, Lamar County, Mississippi
The Salmon Site (SS), formerly the Tatum Dome Test Site, located in Mississippi was the site of two nuclear and two gas explosion tests conducted between 1964 and 1970. A consequence of these testing activities is that radionuclides were released into the salt dome, where they are presently contained. During reentry drilling and other site activities, incidental liquid and solid wastes that contained radioactivity were generated, resulting in some soil, ground water and equipment contamination. As part of the remedial investigation effort, a Baseline Ecological Risk Assessment was conducted at the SS. The purpose is to gauge ecological and other environmental impacts attributable to past activities at the former test facility. The results of this facility-specific baseline risk assessment are presented in this document.
A comparison of risk assessment techniques from qualitative to...
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
Country of Publication: United States Language: English Subject: 99 MATHEMATICS, COMPUTERS, INFORMATION SCIENCE, MANAGEMENT, LAW, MISCELLANEOUS; RISK ASSESSMENT; STATISTICS; ...
Session: Pre-development project risk assessment
Curry, Richard; Linehan, Andy
This second session at the Wind Energy and Birds/Bats workshop consisted of two presentations followed by a discussion/question and answer period. The focus of the presentations was on the practices and methodologies used in the wind energy industry for assessing risk to birds and bats at candidate project sites. Presenters offered examples of pre-development siting evaluation requirements set by certain states. Presentation one was titled ''Practices and Methodologies and Initial Screening Tools'' by Richard Curry of Curry and Kerlinger, LLC. Presentation two was titled ''State of the Industry in the Pacific Northwest'' by Andy Linehan, CH2MHILL.
Compliance & Risk Assessment | Department of Energy
Broader source: Energy.gov (indexed) [DOE]
environmental hazards and risks to protect human health and safety and the environment. ... Plans. Risk evaluation tools such as the Human Health and Ecological Risk Methods ...
Hydrogen quantitative risk assessment workshop proceedings.
Groth, Katrina M.; Harris, Aaron P.
The Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) Toolkit Introduction Workshop was held at Energetics on June 11-12. The workshop was co-hosted by Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) and HySafe, the International Association for Hydrogen Safety. The objective of the workshop was twofold: (1) Present a hydrogen-specific methodology and toolkit (currently under development) for conducting QRA to support the development of codes and standards and safety assessments of hydrogen-fueled vehicles and fueling stations, and (2) Obtain feedback on the needs of early-stage users (hydrogen as well as potential leveraging for Compressed Natural Gas [CNG], and Liquefied Natural Gas [LNG]) and set priorities for %E2%80%9CVersion 1%E2%80%9D of the toolkit in the context of the commercial evolution of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). The workshop consisted of an introduction and three technical sessions: Risk Informed Development and Approach; CNG/LNG Applications; and Introduction of a Hydrogen Specific QRA Toolkit.
Annual Report: National Risk Assessment Partnership (30 September 2012)
Bromhal, Grant; Guthrie, George
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is conducting research to advance the science and engineering knowledge base for technologies that will accelerate the business case for CO{sub 2} capture and storage, including prediction and quantification of risks that may relate to potential liabilities. As part of this effort, NETL, through its Office of Research and Development (ORD), is leading a multi-laboratory effort that leverages broad technical capabilities across the DOE complex: the National Risk Assessment Partnership (NRAP). NRAP involves five DOE national laboratories: NETL, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). This team is working together to develop a science-based method for quantifying the likelihood of risks (and associated potential liabilities) for CO{sub 2} storage sites. NRAP is an effort that harnesses the breadth of capabilities across the DOE National Laboratory (NL) system into a mission-focused platform that will develop the integrated science base that can be applied to risk assessment for long-term storage of CO{sub 2}.
Improving Risk Assessment to Support State Energy Infrastructure Decision Making
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
OE is leading a State Energy Risk Assessment Initiative to help States better understand risks to their energy infrastructure so they can be better prepared to make informed decisions about their investments, resilience and hardening strategies, and asset management. The Initiative is a collaborative effort with the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO), the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC), the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), and the National Governors Association (NGA). As part of this Initiative, OE has developed a series of State Energy Risk Profiles that examine the relative magnitude of the risks that each State's energy infrastructure routinely encounters in comparison with the probable impacts. Developed by Argonne National Laboratory in support of OE, the profiles discuss both natural and man-made hazards with the potential to cause disruption of the electric, petroleum, and natural gas infrastructures, and provide valuable information to States energy agencies on the types of hazards that have historically impacted energy infrastructure in their States. In addition, the profiles provide a quick overview of the energy landscape within a State and highlight areas that would benefit from additional risk analysis and mitigation efforts.
United States Environmental Protection Agency: Use of risk assessment and risk management methodologies. Master's thesis
Lamuro, R.J.
Make a full investigation of the policy implications and appropriate uses of risk assessment and risk management in regulatory programs under various Federal laws to prevent cancer and other chronic health effects which may result from exposure to hazardous substances. This is the primary mission of the Risk Assessment and Management Commission (Risk Commission). The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (CAAA), created the Risk Commission reflecting Congress' concern over agency use of risk assessment and risk management techniques and methodologies to implement federal laws protective of human health. The Risk Commission is to consider: methods for measuring and describing risks of chronic health effects from hazardous substances; methods to reflect uncertainties associated with estimation techniques, and whether it is possible or desirable to develop a consistent risk assessment methodology or a consistent standard of acceptable risk for various federal programs.
Radiological risk assessment of environmental radon
Khalid, Norafatin; Majid, Amran Ab; Yahaya, Redzuwan; Yasir, Muhammad Samudi
Measurements of radon gas ({sup 222}Rn) in the environmental are important to assess indoor air quality and to study the potential risk to human health. Generally known that exposure to radon is considered the second leading cause of lung cancer after smoking. The environmental radon concentration depends on the {sup 226}Ra concentration, indoor atmosphere, cracking on rocks and building materials. This study was carried out to determine the indoor radon concentration from selected samples of tin tailings (amang) and building materials in an airtight sealed homemade radon chamber. The radiological risk assessment for radon gas was also calculated based on the annual exposure dose, effective dose equivalent, radon exhalation rates and fatal cancer risk. The continuous radon monitor Sun Nuclear model 1029 was used to measure the radon concentration emanates from selected samples for 96 hours. Five types of tin tailings collected from Kampar, Perak and four samples of building materials commonly used in Malaysia dwellings or building constructions were analysed for radon concentration. The indoor radon concentration determined in ilmenite, monazite, struverite, xenotime and zircon samples varies from 219.6 � 76.8 Bq m{sup ?3} to 571.1 � 251.4 Bq m{sup ?3}, 101.0 � 41.0 Bq m{sup ?3} to 245.3 � 100.2 Bq m{sup ?3}, 53.1 � 7.5 Bq m{sup ?3} to 181.8 � 9.7 Bq m{sup ?3}, 256.1 � 59.3 Bq m{sup ?3} to 652.2 � 222.2 Bq m{sup ?3} and 164.5 � 75.9 Bq m{sup ?3} to 653.3 � 240.0 Bq m{sup ?3}, respectively. Whereas, in the building materials, the radon concentration from cement brick, red-clay brick, gravel aggregate and cement showed 396.3 � 194.3 Bq m{sup ?3}, 192.1 � 75.4 Bq m{sup ?3}, 176.1 � 85.9 Bq m{sup ?3} and 28.4 � 5.7 Bq m{sup ?3}, respectively. The radon concentration in tin tailings and building materials were found to be much higher in xenotime and cement brick samples than others. All samples in tin tailings were exceeded the action level for radon gas of 148 Bq m
System Analysis and Risk Assessment System.
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
Version 00 SARA4.16 is a program that allows the user to review the results of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) and to perform limited sensitivity analysis on these results. This tool is intended to be used by a less technical oriented user and does not require the level of understanding of PRA concepts required by a full PRA analysis tool. With this program a user can review the information generated by a PRA analyst andmore » compare the results to those generated by making limited modifications to the data in the PRA. Also included in this program is the ability to graphically display the information stored in the database. This information includes event trees, fault trees, P&IDs and uncertainty distributions. SARA 4.16 is incorporated in the SAPHIRE 5.0 code package.« less
Performing Probabilistic Risk Assessment Through RAVEN
A. Alfonsi; C. Rabiti; D. Mandelli; J. Cogliati; R. Kinoshita
The Reactor Analysis and Virtual control ENviroment (RAVEN) code is a software tool that acts as the control logic driver and post-processing engine for the newly developed Thermal-Hydraulic code RELAP-7. RAVEN is now a multi-purpose Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) software framework that allows dispatching different functionalities: Derive and actuate the control logic required to simulate the plant control system and operator actions (guided procedures), allowing on-line monitoring/controlling in the Phase Space Perform both Monte-Carlo sampling of random distributed events and Dynamic Event Tree based analysis Facilitate the input/output handling through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and a post-processing data mining module
A Resource Handbook on DOE Transportation Risk Assessment (DOE, 2002)
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
This resource handbook was compiled for the DOE's Transportation Risk Assessment Working Group. This document includes the first of a planned series of discussion papers on topical aspects of transportation risk problems. These discussion papers are intended to provide practical advice to program managers and technical personnel responsible for preparing NEPA documents and other transportation risk assessments.
Gasbuggy Site Assessment and Risk Evaluation
contaminant exposure scenario, drilling of natural gas wells near the site. The results of this risk evaluation will guide DOE's future surveillance and monitoring activities in the area to ensure that site conditions are adequately protective of human health. This evaluation is not a comprehensive risk assessment for the site; it is intended to provide assurance that DOE's monitoring approach can detect the presence of site-related contamination at levels well below those that would pose an unacceptable risk to human health.
Risk assessment of landfill disposal sites - State of the art
Butt, Talib E. Lockley, Elaine; Oduyemi, Kehinde O.K.
A risk assessment process can assist in drawing a cost-effective compromise between economic and environmental costs, thereby assuring that the philosophy of 'sustainable development' is adhered to. Nowadays risk analysis is in wide use to effectively manage environmental issues. Risk assessment is also applied to other subjects including health and safety, food, finance, ecology and epidemiology. The literature review of environmental risk assessments in general and risk assessment approaches particularly regarding landfill disposal sites undertaken by the authors, reveals that an integrated risk assessment methodology for landfill gas, leachate or degraded waste does not exist. A range of knowledge gaps is discovered in the literature reviewed to date. From the perspective of landfill leachate, this paper identifies the extent to which various risk analysis aspects are absent in the existing approaches.
Risk assessment for produced water discharges to Louisiana open bays. Final report
Meinhold, A.F.; DePhillips, M.P.; Holtzman, S.
The US Department of Energy (USDOE) has a program of research in the environmental aspects of oil and gas extraction. This sampling project will characterize the environmental impacts associated with the discharge of naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM), metals and organics in produced water. This report is part of a series of studies of the health and ecological risks from discharges of produced water to the Gulf of Mexico, supported by the USDOE. These assessments are being coordinated with the field study, using the collected data to perform human health and ecological risk assessments. These assessments will provide input to regulators in the development of guidelines and permits, and to industry in the development and use of appropriate discharge practices. The initial human health and ecological risk assessments consist of conservative screening analyses meant to identify potentially important contaminants, and to eliminate others from further consideration. More quantitative assessments were done for contaminants identified, in the screening analysis, as being of potential concern. Section 2 gives an overview of human health and ecological risk assessment to help put the analyses presented here in perspective. Section 3 provides the hazard assessment portion of the risk assessment, and identifies the important receptors and pathways of concern. Section 3 also outlines the approach taken to the risk assessments presented in the rest of the report. The remaining sections (4 through 9) present the human health and ecological risk assessments for discharges of produced water to open bays in Louisiana.
Assessing human health risk in the USDA forest service
Hamel, D.R.
This paper identifies the kinds of risk assessments being done by or for the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service. Summaries of data sources currently in use and the pesticide risk assessments completed by the agency or its contractors are discussed. An overview is provided of the agency`s standard operating procedures for the conduct of toxicological, ecological, environmental fate, and human health risk assessments.
DOE Draft Standard, Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessments
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
in Department of Energy Nuclear Safety Applications, 12/10 | Department of Energy DOE Draft Standard, Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessments in Department of Energy Nuclear Safety Applications, 12/10 DOE Draft Standard, Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessments in Department of Energy Nuclear Safety Applications, 12/10 The Department has taken several actions to provide an infrastructure for providing appropriate controls and support for use of risk assessments and
Risk assessment and toxicology databases for health effects assessment
Lu, P.Y.; Wassom, J.S.
Scientific and technological developments bring unprecedented stress to our environment. Society has to predict the results of potential health risks from technologically based actions that may have serious, far-reaching consequences. The potential for error in making such predictions or assessment is great and multiplies with the increasing size and complexity of the problem being studied. Because of this, the availability and use of reliable data is the key to any successful forecasting effort. Scientific research and development generate new data and information. Much of the scientific data being produced daily is stored in computers for subsequent analysis. This situation provides both an invaluable resource and an enormous challenge. With large amounts of government funds being devoted to health and environmental research programs and with maintenance of our living environment at stake, we must make maximum use of the resulting data to forecast and avert catastrophic effects. Along with the readily available. The most efficient means of obtaining the data necessary for assessing the health effects of chemicals is to utilize applications include the toxicology databases and information files developed at ORNL. To make most efficient use of the data/information that has already been prepared, attention and resources should be directed toward projects that meticulously evaluate the available data/information and create specialized peer-reviewed value-added databases. Such projects include the National Library of Medicine`s Hazardous Substances Data Bank, and the U.S. Air Force Installation Restoration Toxicology Guide. These and similar value-added toxicology databases were developed at ORNL and are being maintained and updated. These databases and supporting information files, as well as some data evaluation techniques are discussed in this paper with special focus on how they are used to assess potential health effects of environmental agents. 19 refs., 5 tabs.
Sandia Energy - DHS Mulls Updates to Chemical Site Risk Assessments
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
DHS Mulls Updates to Chemical Site Risk Assessments Home Infrastructure Security Infrastructure Assurance Facilities News NISAC News & Events Research & Capabilities Modeling...
October 13, 2015 Webinar - EPA Radiation Risk Assessment Approach |
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Department of Energy 3, 2015 Webinar - EPA Radiation Risk Assessment Approach October 13, 2015 Webinar - EPA Radiation Risk Assessment Approach Performance & RIsk Assessment (P&RA) Community of Practice (CoP) Webinar - October 13, 2015 - EPA Radiation Risk Assessment Approach by Mr. Stuart Walker, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2-3 pm Eastern Time. Agenda - October 13, 2015 - P&RA CoP Webinar (284.55 KB) Presentation - U.S. EPA Superfund Remedial Program's Approach for
DOE (Department of Energy) risk assessment worksheets: A structured approach
Not Available
This volume consists of the worksheets for each step in completing the guideline. This guideline outlines the approach to conducting risk assessments of computer security. (JEF)
Security Risk Assessment Methodologies (RAM) for Critical Infrastructu...
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Building Energy Efficiency Find More Like This Return to Search Security Risk Assessment Methodologies (RAM) for Critical Infrastructures Sandia National Laboratories...
Proliferation and Terrorism Risk Assessment | Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
These assessments will: Exploit science-based approaches for analyzing difficult-to-quantify proliferation risk factors or indicators (e.g., capabilities, motivations and ...
A macro environmental risk assessment methodology for establishing priorities among risks to human health and the environment in the Philippines
Gernhofer, S.; Oliver, T.J.; Vasquez, R.
A macro environmental risk assessment (ERA) methodology was developed for the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) as part of the US Agency for International Development Industrial Environmental Management Project. The DENR allocates its limited resources to mitigate those environmental problems that pose the greatest threat to human health and the environment. The National Regional Industry Prioritization Strategy (NRIPS) methodology was developed as a risk assessment tool to establish a national ranking of industrial facilities. The ranking establishes regional and national priorities, based on risk factors, that DENR can use to determine the most effective allocation of its limited resources. NRIPS is a systematic framework that examines the potential risk to human health and the environment from hazardous substances released from a facility, and, in doing so, generates a relative numerical score that represents that risk. More than 3,300 facilities throughout the Philippines were evaluated successfully with the NRIPS.
Risk assessment compatible fire models (RACFMs)
Lopez, A.R.; Gritzo, L.A.; Sherman, M.P.
A suite of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Compatible Fire Models (RACFMs) has been developed to represent the hazard posed by a pool fire to weapon systems transported on the B52-H aircraft. These models represent both stand-off (i.e., the weapon system is outside of the flame zone but exposed to the radiant heat load from fire) and fully-engulfing scenarios (i.e., the object is fully covered by flames). The approach taken in developing the RACFMs for both scenarios was to consolidate, reconcile, and apply data and knowledge from all available resources including: data and correlations from the literature, data from an extensive full-scale fire test program at the Naval Air Warfare Center (NAWC) at China Lake, and results from a fire field model (VULCAN). In the past, a single, effective temperature, T{sub f}, was used to represent the fire. The heat flux to an object exposed to a fire was estimated using the relationship for black body radiation, {sigma}T{sub f}{sup 4}. Significant improvements have been made by employing the present approach which accounts for the presence of temperature distributions in fully-engulfing fires, and uses best available correlations to estimate heat fluxes in stand-off scenarios.
Embedding climate change risk assessment within a governance context
Preston, Benjamin L
Climate change adaptation is increasingly being framed in the context of climate risk management. This has contributed to the proliferation of climate change vulnerability and/or risk assessments as means of supporting institutional decision-making regarding adaptation policies and measures. To date, however, little consideration has been given to how such assessment projects and programs interact with governance systems to facilitate or hinder the implementation of adaptive responses. An examination of recent case studies involving Australian local governments reveals two key linkages between risk assessment and the governance of adaptation. First, governance systems influence how risk assessment processes are conducted, by whom they are conducted, and whom they are meant to inform. Australia s governance system emphasizes evidence-based decision-making that reinforces a knowledge deficit model of decision support. Assessments are often carried out by external experts on behalf of local government, with limited participation by relevant stakeholders and/or civil society. Second, governance systems influence the extent to which the outputs from risk assessment activities are translated into adaptive responses and outcomes. Technical information regarding risk is often stranded by institutional barriers to adaptation including poor uptake of information, competition on the policy agenda, and lack of sufficient entitlements. Yet, risk assessments can assist in bringing such barriers to the surface, where they can be debated and resolved. In fact, well-designed risk assessments can contribute to multi-loop learning by institutions, and that reflexive problem orientation may be one of the more valuable benefits of assessment.
Assessment of the risk of transporting liquid chlorine by rail
Andrews, W.B.
This report presents the risk of shipping liquid chlorine by rail. While chlorine is not an energy material, there are several benefits to studying chlorine transportation risks. First, chlorine, like energy materials, is widely used as a feedstock to industry. Second, it is the major purification agent in municipal water treatment systems and therefore, provides direct benefits to the public. Finally, other risk assessments have been completed for liquid chlorine shipments in the US and Europe, which provide a basis for comparison with this study. None of the previous PNL energy material risk assessments have had other studies for comparison. For these reasons, it was felt that a risk assessment of chlorine transportation by rail could provide information on chlorine risk levels, identify ways to reduce these risks and use previous studies on chlorine risks to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the PNL risk assessment methodology. The risk assessment methodology used in this study is summarized. The methodology is presented in the form of a risk assessment model which is constructed for ease of periodic updating of the data base so that the risk may be reevaluated as additional data become available. The report is sectioned to correspond to specific analysis steps identified in the model. The transport system and accident environment are described. The response of the transport system to accident environments is described. Release sequences are postulated and evaluated to determine both the likelihood and possible consequences of a release. Supportive data and analyses are given in the appendices. The risk assessment results are related to the year 1985 to allow a direct comparison with other reports in this series.
The purpose of the Hanford Safety Analysis and Risk Assessment Handbook (SARAH) is to support the development of safety basis documentation for Hazard Category 2 and 3 (HC-2 and 3) U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear facilities to meet the requirements of 10 CFR 830, ''Nuclear Safety Management''. Subpart B, ''Safety Basis Requirements.'' Consistent with DOE-STD-3009-94, Change Notice 2, ''Preparation Guide for U.S. Department of Energy Nonreactor Nuclear Facility Documented Safety Analyses'' (STD-3009), and DOE-STD-3011-2002, ''Guidance for Preparation of Basis for Interim Operation (BIO) Documents'' (STD-3011), the Hanford SARAH describes methodology for performing a safety analysis leading to development of a Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) and derivation of Technical Safety Requirements (TSR), and provides the information necessary to ensure a consistently rigorous approach that meets DOE expectations. The DSA and TSR documents, together with the DOE-issued Safety Evaluation Report (SER), are the basic components of facility safety basis documentation. For HC-2 or 3 nuclear facilities in long-term surveillance and maintenance (S&M), for decommissioning activities, where source term has been eliminated to the point that only low-level, residual fixed contamination is present, or for environmental remediation activities outside of a facility structure, DOE-STD-1120-98, ''Integration of Environment, Safety, and Health into Facility Disposition Activities'' (STD-1120), may serve as the basis for the DSA. HC-2 and 3 environmental remediation sites also are subject to the hazard analysis methodologies of this standard.
Cavity degradation risk insurance assessment. Final report
Hampson, C.; Neill, P.; de Bivort, L.
This study examined the risks and risk management issues involved with the implementation by electric power utilities of compressed air energy storage and underground pumped hydro storage systems. The results are listed in terms of relative risks for the construction and operation of these systems in different geologic deposits, with varying amounts of pressurization, with natural or man-made disasters in the vicinity of the storage equipment, and with different modes of operating the facilities. (LCL)
Risk Assessment in Support of DOE Nuclear Safety, Risk Information Notice, June 2010
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
On August 12, 2009, the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board(DNFSB) issued Recommendation 2009‐1, Risk Assessment Methodologies at Defense Nuclear Facilities. Thisrecommendation focused on the...
A Resource Handbook on DOE Transportation Risk Assessment
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
This resource handbook was compiled for the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) Transportation Risk Assessment Working Group. This document includes the first of a planned series of discussion papers on topical aspects of transportation risk problems. These discussion papers are intended to provide practical advice to program managers and technical personnel responsible for preparing NEPA documents and other transportation risk assessments.
Asbestos exposure--quantitative assessment of risk
Hughes, J.M.; Weill, H.
Methods for deriving quantitative estimates of asbestos-associated health risks are reviewed and their numerous assumptions and uncertainties described. These methods involve extrapolation of risks observed at past relatively high asbestos concentration levels down to usually much lower concentration levels of interest today--in some cases, orders of magnitude lower. These models are used to calculate estimates of the potential risk to workers manufacturing asbestos products and to students enrolled in schools containing asbestos products. The potential risk to workers exposed for 40 yr to 0.5 fibers per milliliter (f/ml) of mixed asbestos fiber type (a permissible workplace exposure limit under consideration by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ) are estimated as 82 lifetime excess cancers per 10,000 exposed. The risk to students exposed to an average asbestos concentration of 0.001 f/ml of mixed asbestos fiber types for an average enrollment period of 6 school years is estimated as 5 lifetime excess cancers per one million exposed. If the school exposure is to chrysotile asbestos only, then the estimated risk is 1.5 lifetime excess cancers per million. Risks from other causes are presented for comparison; e.g., annual rates (per million) of 10 deaths from high school football, 14 from bicycling (10-14 yr of age), 5 to 20 for whooping cough vaccination. Decisions concerning asbestos products require participation of all parties involved and should only be made after a scientifically defensible estimate of the associated risk has been obtained. In many cases to date, such decisions have been made without adequate consideration of the level of risk or the cost-effectiveness of attempts to lower the potential risk. 73 references.
Cryptographic Key Management and Critical Risk Assessment
Abercrombie, Robert K
The Department of Energy Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (DOE-OE) CyberSecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (CSEDS) industry led program (DE-FOA-0000359) entitled "Innovation for Increasing CyberSecurity for Energy Delivery Systems (12CSEDS)," awarded a contract to Sypris Electronics LLC to develop a Cryptographic Key Management System for the smart grid (Scalable Key Management Solutions for Critical Infrastructure Protection). Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and Sypris Electronics, LLC as a result of that award entered into a CRADA (NFE-11-03562) between ORNL and Sypris Electronics, LLC. ORNL provided its Cyber Security Econometrics System (CSES) as a tool to be modified and used as a metric to address risks and vulnerabilities in the management of cryptographic keys within the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) domain of the electric sector. ORNL concentrated our analysis on the AMI domain of which the National Electric Sector Cyber security Organization Resource (NESCOR) Working Group 1 (WG1) has documented 29 failure scenarios. The computational infrastructure of this metric involves system stakeholders, security requirements, system components and security threats. To compute this metric, we estimated the stakes that each stakeholder associates with each security requirement, as well as stochastic matrices that represent the probability of a threat to cause a component failure and the probability of a component failure to cause a security requirement violation. We applied this model to estimate the security of the AMI, by leveraging the recently established National Institute of Standards and Technology Interagency Report (NISTIR) 7628 guidelines for smart grid security and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) 63351, Part 9 to identify the life cycle for cryptographic key management, resulting in a vector that assigned to each stakeholder an estimate of their average loss in terms of dollars per day of system
NGNP Risk Management through Assessing Technology Readiness
John W. Collins
Throughout the Next Generation Nuclear Plant (NGNP) project life cycle, technical risks are identified, analyzed, and mitigated and decisions are made regarding the design and selection of plant and sub-system configurations, components and their fabrication materials, and operating conditions. Risk resolution and decision making are key elements that help achieve project completion within budget and schedule constraints and desired plant availability. To achieve this objective, a formal decision-making and risk management process was developed for NGNP, based on proven systems engineering principles that have guided aerospace and military applications.
The Resource Handbook on DOE Transportation Risk Assessment
Chen, S. Y.; Kapoor, A. K.
In an attempt to bring forth increased efficiency and effectiveness in assessing transportation risks associated with radioactive materials or wastes, the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) National Transportation Program (NTP) published a resource handbook in 2002. The handbook draws from the broad technical expertise among DOE national laboratories and industry, which reflects the extensive experience gained from DOE's efforts in conducting assessments (i.e., environmental impact assessments) within the context of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in the past 20 years. The handbook is intended to serve as a primary source of information regarding the approach and basis for conducting transportation risk assessments under normal or accidental conditions that are associated with shipping radioactive materials or wastes. It is useful as a reference to DOE managers, NEPA assessors, technical analysts, contractors, and also stakeholders. It provides a summary of pertinent U.S. policies and regulations on the shipment of radioactive materials, existing guidance on preparing transportation risk assessments, a review of previous transportation risk assessments by DOE and others, a description of comprehensive and generally accepted transportation risk assessment methodologies, and a compilation of supporting data, parameters, and assumptions. The handbook also provides a discussion paper on an issue that has been identified as being important in the past. The discussion paper focuses on cumulative impacts, illustrating the ongoing evolution of transportation risk assessment. The discussion may be expanded in the future as emerging issues are identified. The handbook will be maintained and periodically updated to provide current and accurate information.
Assessing Risk and Driving Risk Mitigation for First-of-a-Kind Advanced Reactors
John W. Collins
Planning and decision making amidst programmatic and technological risks represent significant challenges for projects. This presentation addresses the four step risk-assessment process needed to determine clear path forward to mature needed technology and design, license, and construct advanced nuclear power plants, which have never been built before, including Small Modular Reactors. This four step process has been carefully applied to the Next Generation Nuclear Plant. STEP 1 - Risk Identification Risks are identified, collected, and categorized as technical risks, programmatic risks, and project risks, each of which result in cost and schedule impacts if realized. These include risks arising from the use of technologies not previously demonstrated in a relevant application. These risks include normal and accident scenarios which the SMR could experience including events that cause the disablement of engineered safety features (typically documented in Phenomena Identification Ranking Tables (PIRT) as produced with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission) and design needs which must be addressed to further detail the design. Product - Project Risk Register contained in a database with sorting, presentation, rollup, risk work off functionality similar to the NGNP Risk Management System . STEP 2 - Risk Quantification The risks contained in the risk register are then scored for probability of occurrence and severity of consequence, if realized. Here the scoring methodology is established and the basis for the scoring is well documented. Product - Quantified project risk register with documented basis for scoring. STEP 3 - Risk Handling Strategy Risks are mitigated by applying a systematic approach to maturing the technology through Research and Development, modeling, test, and design. A Technology Readiness Assessment is performed to determine baseline Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Tasks needed to mature the technology are developed and documented in a roadmap
Development of Improved Caprock Integrity and Risk Assessment Techniques
Bruno, Michael
GeoMechanics Technologies has completed a geomechanical caprock integrity analysis and risk assessment study funded through the US Department of Energy. The project included: a detailed review of historical caprock integrity problems experienced in the natural gas storage industry; a theoretical description and documentation of caprock integrity issues; advanced coupled transport flow modelling and geomechanical simulation of three large-scale potential geologic sequestration sites to estimate geomechanical effects from CO₂ injection; development of a quantitative risk and decision analysis tool to assess caprock integrity risks; and, ultimately the development of recommendations and guidelines for caprock characterization and CO₂ injection operating practices. Historical data from gas storage operations and CO₂ sequestration projects suggest that leakage and containment incident risks are on the order of 10-1 to 10-2, which is higher risk than some previous studies have suggested for CO₂. Geomechanical analysis, as described herein, can be applied to quantify risks and to provide operating guidelines to reduce risks. The risk assessment tool developed for this project has been applied to five areas: The Wilmington Graben offshore Southern California, Kevin Dome in Montana, the Louden Field in Illinois, the Sleipner CO₂ sequestration operation in the North Sea, and the In Salah CO₂ sequestration operation in North Africa. Of these five, the Wilmington Graben area represents the highest relative risk while the Kevin Dome area represents the lowest relative risk.
The INL Seismic Risk Assessment Project: Requirements for Addressing...
Office of Environmental Management (EM)
The INL Seismic Risk Assessment Project: Requirements for Addressing DOE Order 420.1C & A Proposed Generic Methodology Presentation from the May 2015 Seismic Lessons-Learned Panel ...
Integrating Electricity Subsector Failure Scenarios into a Risk Assessment
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Methodology (December 2013) | Department of Energy Integrating Electricity Subsector Failure Scenarios into a Risk Assessment Methodology (December 2013) Integrating Electricity Subsector Failure Scenarios into a Risk Assessment Methodology (December 2013) The nation's power system consists of both legacy and next generation technologies. New grid technologies are introducing millions of novel, intelligent components to the electric grid that communicate in much more advanced ways than in
Creating a Culture of Risk Assessment | Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Creating a Culture of Risk Assessment Creating a Culture of Risk Assessment Decisions regarding how to secure and invest in the Nation's energy infrastructure are often complex. Limited resources and investment returns, tight budgets, and lack of information can hinder the process of how to best maintain or improve existing infrastructure or build new energy facilities and systems. Threats or hazards that can impact energy infrastructure and the consequences of those impacts must be known to
Assessing the health risk of solar development on contaminated lands |
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Argonne National Laboratory Assessing the health risk of solar development on contaminated lands December 11, 2013 Tweet EmailPrint A recently published report from Argonne's Environmental Science (EVS) division presents a methodology for assessing potential human health risks of developing utility-scale solar facilities on contaminated, previously developed sites. Developing on these lands rather than pristine, undeveloped lands can avoid or minimize environmental impacts, reduce
Gasbuggy Site Assessment and Risk Evaluation
This report describes the geologic and hydrologic conditions and evaluates potential health risks to workers in the natural gas industry in the vicinity of the Gasbuggy, New Mexico, site, where the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission detonated an underground nuclear device in 1967. The 29-kiloton detonation took place 4,240 feet below ground surface and was designed to evaluate the use of a nuclear detonation to enhance natural gas production from the Pictured Cliffs Formation in the San Juan Basin, Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, on land administered by Carson National Forest. A site-specific conceptual model was developed based on current understanding of the hydrologic and geologic environment. This conceptual model was used for establishing plausible contaminant exposure scenarios, which were then evaluated for human health risk potential. The most mobile and, therefore, the most probable contaminant that could result in human exposure is tritium. Natural gas production wells were identified as having the greatest potential for bringing detonation-derived contaminants (tritium) to the ground surface in the form of tritiated produced water. Three exposure scenarios addressing potential contamination from gas wells were considered in the risk evaluation: a gas well worker during gas-well-drilling operations, a gas well worker performing routine maintenance, and a residential exposure. The residential exposure scenario was evaluated only for comparison; permanent residences on national forest lands at the Gasbuggy site are prohibited
Risk assessment activities at NIOSH: Information resources and needs
Stayner, L.T.; Meinhardt, T.; Hardin, B.
Under the Occupational Safety and Health, and Mine Safety and Health Acts, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is charged with development of recommended occupational safety and health standards, and with conducting research to support the development of these standards. Thus, NIOSH has been actively involved in the analysis of risk associated with occupational exposures, and in the development of research information that is critical for the risk assessment process. NIOSH research programs and other information resources relevant to the risk assessment process are described in this paper. Future needs for information resources are also discussed.
Low Power and Shutdown Risk Assessment Benchmarking Study
J.Mitman, J. Julius, R. Berucio, M. Phillips, J. Grobbelaaar, D. Bley, R. Budniz
(B204)Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) insights are now used by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC) to confirm the level of safety for plant operations and to justify changes in nuclear power plant operating requirements, both on an exception basis and as changeds to a plant's licensing basis. This report examines qualitative and quantitative risk assessments during shutdown plant states, providing feedback to utilities in the use of qualitative models for outage risk management, and also providing input to the development of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) Low Power and Shutdown PRA Standard.
Risk assessment for produced water discharges to Louisiana Open Bays
Meinhold, A.F.; DePhillips, M.P.; Holtzman, S.
Data were collected prior to termination of discharge at three sites (including two open bay sites at Delacroix Island and Bay De Chene) for the risk assessments. The Delacroix Island Oil and Gas Field has been in production since the first well drilling in 1940; the Bay De Chene Field, since 1942. Concentrations of 226Ra, 228Ra, 210Po, and 228Th were measured in discharges. Radium conc. were measured in fish and shellfish tissues. Sediment PAH and metal conc. were also available. Benthos sampling was conducted. A survey of fishermen was conducted. The tiered risk assessment showed that human health risks from radium in produced water appear to be small; ecological risk from radium and other radionuclides in produced water also appear small. Many of the chemical contaminants discharged to open Louisiana bays appear to present little human health or ecological risk. A conservative screening analysis suggested potential risks to human health from Hg and Pb and a potential risk to ecological receptors from total effluent, Sb, Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, Ag, Zn, and phenol in the water column and PAHs in sediment; quantitiative risk assessments are being done for these contaminants.
Reactor safety study. An assessment of accident risks in U. S...
Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI)
An assessment of accident risks in U. S. commercial nuclear power plants. Executive ... An assessment of accident risks in U. S. commercial nuclear power plants. Executive ...
Advances in exposure and toxicity assessment of particulate matter: An overview of presentations at the 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference
Gunasekar, Palur G.; Stanek, Lindsay W.
The 2009 Toxicology and Risk Assessment Conference (TRAC) session on 'Advances in Exposure and Toxicity Assessment of Particulate Matter' was held in April 2009 in West Chester, OH. The goal of this session was to bring together toxicology, geology and risk assessment experts from the Department of Defense and academia to examine issues in exposure assessment and report on recent epidemiological findings of health effects associated with particulate matter (PM) exposure. Important aspects of PM exposure research are to detect and monitor low levels of PM with various chemical compositions and to assess the health risks associated with these exposures. As part of the overall theme, some presenters discussed collection methods for sand and dust from Iraqi and Afghanistan regions, health issues among deployed personnel, and future directions for risk assessment research among these populations. The remaining speakers focused on the toxicity of ultrafine PM and the characterization of aerosols generated during ballistic impacts of tungsten heavy alloys.
Risk management & organizational uncertainty implications for the assessment of high consequence organizations
Bennett, C.T.
Post hoc analyses have demonstrated clearly that macro-system, organizational processes have played important roles in such major catastrophes as Three Mile Island, Bhopal, Exxon Valdez, Chernobyl, and Piper Alpha. How can managers of such high-consequence organizations as nuclear power plants and nuclear explosives handling facilities be sure that similar macro-system processes are not operating in their plants? To date, macro-system effects have not been integrated into risk assessments. Part of the reason for not using macro-system analyses to assess risk may be the impression that standard organizational measurement tools do not provide hard data that can be managed effectively. In this paper, I argue that organizational dimensions, like those in ISO 9000, can be quantified and integrated into standard risk assessments.
Human and animal health risk assessments of chemicals in the food chain: Comparative aspects and future perspectives
Dorne, J.L.C.M.; Fink-Gremmels, J.
Chemicals from anthropogenic and natural origins enter animal feed, human food and water either as undesirable contaminants or as part of the components of a diet. Over the last five decades, considerable efforts and progress to develop methodologies to protect humans and animals against potential risks associated with exposure to such potentially toxic chemicals have been made. This special issue presents relevant methodological developments and examples of risk assessments of undesirable substances in the food chain integrating the animal health and the human health perspective and refers to recent Opinions of the Scientific Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). This introductory review aims to give a comparative account of the risk assessment steps used in human health and animal health risk assessments for chemicals in the food chain and provides a critical view of the data gaps and future perspectives for this cross-disciplinary field. - Highlights: ? Principles of human and animal health risk assessment. ? Data gaps for each step of animal health risk assessment. ? Implications of animal risk assessment on human risk assessment. ? Future perspectives on chemical risk assessment.
Office of Legacy Management (LM)
SCUBA TECHNIQUES USED IN RISK ASSESSMENT OF POSSIBLE NUCLEAR LEAKAGE AROUND AMCHITKA ISLAND, ALASKA Stephen Jewett, Max Hoberg, Heloise Chenelot, Shawn Harper Institute of Marine Science, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK 99775-7220 Joanna Burger Division of Life Sciences, Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation (CRESP), and Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute (EOHSI), 604 Allison Road, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-8082
Rapid Risk Assessment: FY05 Annual Summary Report
Whelan, Gene; Millard, W. David; Gelston, Gariann M.; Pelton, Mitch A.; Yang, Zhaoqing; Strenge, Dennis L.; Lee, Cheegwan; Sivaraman, Chitra; Simpson, Mary J.; Young, Joan K.; Khangaonkar, Tarang P.; Downing, Timothy R.; Hoopes, Bonnie L.; Hachmeister, Lon E.
The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is developing decision support tools that will assist in the transition of incident information into Protective Action Recommendations (PARs) that are understandable and can be executed in a real-world, operational environment. During emergencies, responders must rapidly assess risks and decide on the best course of action�all within minutes to hours. PNNL is blending existing modeling and decision support technology to develop new methods for transitioning science-based threat assessment to PARs. The rapid risk assessment tool will be both understandable and applicable to the emergency management community and would be a valuable tool during any water security-related incident. In 2005, PNNL demonstrated the integration of the multi-thematic modeling with emergency management decision support tools to create a Rapid Risk Assessment (RRA) tool that will transition risk to PARs that assist in responding to or mitigating the direct and indirect impacts of the incident(s). The RRA tool does this by aligning multi-thematic modeling capabilities with real-world response zones established by emergency and site operations managers. The RRA tool uses the risk assessment tool to drive prognostic models that use the type of incident, time of impact, severity of impact, and duration of impact to select the most appropriate PAR. Because PARs (and the thresholds by which they are selected) are jointly established by the technologists and the emergency management and operations decision makers, the science-based risk assessment can transition into a recommendation that can be understood and executed by people in the field.
Risk assessment in the DOE Assurance Program for Remedial Action
Marks, S.; Cross, F.T.; Denham, D.H.; Kennedy, W.E.; Stenner, R.D.
This document provides information obtained during the performance of risk assessment tasks in support of the Assurance Program for Remedial Action (APRA) sponsored by the Office of Operational Safety of the Department of Energy. We have presented a method for the estimation of projected health effects at properties in the vicinity of uranium mill tailing piles due to transported tailings or emissions from the piles. Because radon and radon daughter exposure is identified as the principal factor contributing to health effects at such properties, the basis for estimating lung cancer risk as a result of such exposure is discussed in detail. Modeling of health risk due to a secondary pathway, ingestion of contaminated, home-grown food products, is also discussed since it is a potentially important additional source of exposure in certain geographic locations. Risk assessment methods used in various mill tailings reports are reviewed. The protocols for radiological surveys conducted in DOE-sponsored remedial action programs are critically reviewed with respect to their relevance to the needs of health risk estimation. The relevance of risk assessment to the APRA program is discussed briefly.
Overview of DOE-NE Proliferation and Terrorism Risk Assessment
Sadasivan, Pratap
Research objectives are: (1) Develop technologies and other solutions that can improve the reliability, sustain the safety, and extend the life of current reactors; (2) Develop improvements in the affordability of new reactors to enable nuclear energy; (3) Develop Sustainable Nuclear Fuel Cycles; and (4) Understand and minimize the risks of nuclear proliferation and terrorism. The goal is to enable the use of risk information to inform NE R&D program planning. The PTRA program supports DOE-NE's goal of using risk information to inform R&D program planning. The FY12 PTRA program is focused on terrorism risk. The program includes a mix of innovative methods that support the general practice of risk assessments, and selected applications.
Risk assessment of climate systems for national security.
Backus, George A.; Boslough, Mark Bruce Elrick; Brown, Theresa Jean; Cai, Ximing; Conrad, Stephen Hamilton; Constantine, Paul; Dalbey, Keith R.; Debusschere, Bert J.; Fields, Richard; Hart, David Blaine; Kalinina, Elena Arkadievna; Kerstein, Alan R.; Levy, Michael; Lowry, Thomas Stephen; Malczynski, Leonard A.; Najm, Habib N.; Overfelt, James Robert; Parks, Mancel Jordan; Peplinski, William J.; Safta, Cosmin; Sargsyan, Khachik; Stubblefield, William Anthony; Taylor, Mark A.; Tidwell, Vincent Carroll; Trucano, Timothy Guy; Villa, Daniel L.
Climate change, through drought, flooding, storms, heat waves, and melting Arctic ice, affects the production and flow of resource within and among geographical regions. The interactions among governments, populations, and sectors of the economy require integrated assessment based on risk, through uncertainty quantification (UQ). This project evaluated the capabilities with Sandia National Laboratories to perform such integrated analyses, as they relate to (inter)national security. The combining of the UQ results from climate models with hydrological and economic/infrastructure impact modeling appears to offer the best capability for national security risk assessments.
Data banks for risk assessment at the Savannah River Site
Durant, W.S.; Townsend, C.S.; Baughman, D.F.; Hang, P.
One of the lessons learned from many years of risk assessment experience is that mistakes of the past are soon forgotten if no method is available to retrieve and review these events. Savannah River Site has maintained a computerized data bank system for recording, retrieving and reviewing its incident history. The system is based on a series of compilations developed primarily for risk assessment but has been found to be invaluable for many other uses such as equipment reliability, project justification, and incident investigations.
Data banks for risk assessment at the Savannah River Site
Durant, W.S.; Townsend, C.S.; Baughman, D.F.; Hang, P.
One of the lessons learned from many years of risk assessment experience is that mistakes of the past are soon forgotten if no method is available to retrieve and review these events. Savannah River Site has maintained a computerized data bank system for recording, retrieving and reviewing its incident history. The system is based on a series of compilations developed primarily for risk assessment but has been found to be invaluable for many other uses such as equipment reliability, project justification, and incident investigations.
Screening Risk Assessment for Possible Radionuclides in the Amchitka Marine Environment
As part of its environmental stewardship program the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is reevaluating three sites where underground nuclear tests were conducted in the deep subsurface of Amchitka Island, Alaska. The tests (i.e., Long Shot, Milrow, and Cannikin) were conducted in 1965, 1969, and 1971, respectively. Extensive investigations were conducted on these tests and their effect on the environment. Evaluations at the time of testing indicated limited release of radionuclides and absence of risk related to the testing; however, these are being reevaluated under the current DOE environmental stewardship program. A screening risk assessment of potential radionuclide release into the marine environment is an important part of this reevaluation. The risk assessment is one of three interrelated activities: a groundwater model and this screening risk assessment, both of which guide the decisions in the third activity, the site closure plan. Thus, the overall objective of the work is to understand, and subsequently manage, any risk to humans and the environment through a closure and long-term stewardship plan. The objective of this screening risk assessment is to predict whether possible releases of radionuclides at the ocean floor would represent potential risks to Native Alaskans by consumption of marine subsistence species. In addition, risks were predicted for consumers of commercial catches of marine organisms. These risks were calculated beginning with estimates of possible radionuclide release at the seafloor (from a groundwater modeling study), into the seawater, through possible uptake by marine organisms, and finally possible consumption by humans. The risk assessment model has 11 elements, progressing from potential release at the seafloor through water and food chains to human intake. Data for each of these elements were systematically found and synthesized from many sources, and represent the best available knowledge. Whenever precise data were lacking
Use of limited data to construct Bayesian networks for probabilistic risk assessment.
Groth, Katrina M.; Swiler, Laura Painton
Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) is a fundamental part of safety/quality assurance for nuclear power and nuclear weapons. Traditional PRA very effectively models complex hardware system risks using binary probabilistic models. However, traditional PRA models are not flexible enough to accommodate non-binary soft-causal factors, such as digital instrumentation&control, passive components, aging, common cause failure, and human errors. Bayesian Networks offer the opportunity to incorporate these risks into the PRA framework. This report describes the results of an early career LDRD project titled %E2%80%9CUse of Limited Data to Construct Bayesian Networks for Probabilistic Risk Assessment%E2%80%9D. The goal of the work was to establish the capability to develop Bayesian Networks from sparse data, and to demonstrate this capability by producing a data-informed Bayesian Network for use in Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) as part of nuclear power plant Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA). This report summarizes the research goal and major products of the research.
Military Ecological Risk Assessment Framework (MERAF) for Assessment of Risks of Military Training and Testing to Natural Resources
Suter II, G.W.
The objective of this research is to provide the DoD with a framework based on a systematic, risk-based approach to assess impacts for management of natural resources in an ecosystem context. This risk assessment framework is consistent with, but extends beyond, the EPA's ecological risk assessment framework, and specifically addresses DoD activities and management needs. MERAF is intended to be consistent with existing procedures for environmental assessment and planning with DoD testing and training. The intention is to supplement these procedures rather than creating new procedural requirements. MERAF is suitable for use for training and testing area assessment and management. It does not include human health risks nor does it address specific permitting or compliance requirements, although it may be useful in some of these cases. Use of MERAF fits into the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process by providing a consistent and rigorous way of organizing and conducting the technical analysis for Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) (Sigal 1993; Carpenter 1995; Canter and Sadler 1997). It neither conflicts with, nor replaces, procedural requirements within the NEPA process or document management processes already in place within DoD.
Hanford Waste Vitrification Systems Risk Assessment action plan
Miller, W.C.
Recent events in the Hanford waste storage tanks and delays in the startup of US Department of Energy vitrification plans suggest that the schedule for waste vitrification activities at the Hanford Site should be reexamined. As a result, a Hanford Waste Vitrification Systems Risk Assessment will be performed to identify significant risks associated with the vitrification of Hanford high-level and transuranic wastes. This document defines the purpose, scope, plan of execution, responsibilities, reporting requirements, and preliminary schedule and cost estimate to complete this assessment. The study will identify and evaluate uncertainties, quantify potential consequences from these uncertainties, and identify the risks to successful completion of the Hanford vitrification mission. Waste characterization, retrieval, pretreatment, and vitrification will be addressed. Uncertainties associated with the vitrification of double-shell and single-shell tank wastes and cesium and strontium capsules, as well as a limited assessment of the grouting of low-level wastes, will be defined. Technical, regulatory (safety and environmental), and programmatic (cost and schedule) uncertainties will be defined. Recommendations for mitigating strategies and assessments of technical alternatives will be made to reduce substantial risks. 2 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab.
Information resource use and need in risk assessment
Turturro, A.
The manner in which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) uses information resources comprises an interesting illustration of federal agency information use. A description of the context in which risk assessment occurs within the FDA is followed by a discussion of information access and use, as well as a practical example.
Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Ming Zhu, Ph.D., PE, PMP Chair of P&RA CoP P&RA CoP Technical Exchange Meeting Las Vegas, NV ...
Cercy, M; Steven P Schneider, S; Kurt D Gerdes, K
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) was established to achieve the safe and compliant disposition of legacy wastes and facilities from defense nuclear applications. A large majority of these wastes and facilities are 'one-of-a-kind' and unique to DOE. Many of the programs to treat these wastes have been 'first-of-a-kind' and unprecedented in scope and complexity. This has meant that many of the technologies needed to successfully disposition these wastes were not yet developed or required significant re-engineering to be adapted for DOE-EM's needs. The DOE-EM program believes strongly in reducing the technical risk of its projects and has initiated several efforts to reduce those risks: (1) Technology Readiness Assessments to reduce the risks of deployment of new technologies; (2) External Technical Reviews as one of several steps to ensure the timely resolution of engineering and technology issues; and (3) Technical Risk Ratings as a means to monitor and communicate information about technical risks. This paper will present examples of how Technology Readiness Assessments, External Technical Reviews, and Technical Risk Ratings are being used by DOE-EM to reduce technical risks.
Cercy, M; Steven P Schneider, S; Kurt D Gerdes, K
The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Environmental Management (DOE-EM) was established to achieve the safe and compliant disposition of legacy wastes and facilities from defense nuclear applications. A large majority of these wastes and facilities are 'one-of-a-kind' and unique to DOE. Many of the programs to treat these wastes have been 'first-of-a-kind' and unprecedented in scope and complexity. This has meant that many of the technologies needed to successfully disposition these wastes were not yet developed or required significant re-engineering to be adapted for DOE-EM's needs. The DOE-EM program believes strongly in reducing the technical risk of its projects and has initiated several efforts to reduce those risks: (1) Technology Readiness Assessments to reduce the risks of deployment of new technologies; (2) External Technical Reviews as one of several steps to ensure the timely resolution of engineering and technology issues; and (3) Technical Risk Ratings as a means to monitor and communicate information about technical risks. This paper will present examples of how Technology Readiness Assessments, External Technical Reviews, and Technical Risk Ratings are being used by DOE-EM to reduce technical risks.
Environmental Assessment for Proposed Rule 10 CFR Parts 433 and...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Design and Energy Efficiency Standards for New Federal Commercial and High-Rise Multi-Family Residential Buildings and 10 CFR Part 435, Sustainable Design and Energy Efficiency ...
Risk Assessment of Cascading Outages: Methodologies and Challenges
Vaiman, Marianna; Bell, Keith; Chen, Yousu; Chowdhury, Badrul; Dobson, Ian; Hines, Paul; Papic, Milorad; Miller, Stephen; Zhang, Pei
Abstract- This paper is a result of ongoing activity carried out by Understanding, Prediction, Mitigation and Restoration of Cascading Failures Task Force under IEEE Computer Analytical Methods Subcommittee (CAMS). The task force's previous papers are focused on general aspects of cascading outages such as understanding, prediction, prevention and restoration from cascading failures. This is the first of two new papers, which extend this previous work to summarize the state of the art in cascading failure risk analysis methodologies and modeling tools. This paper is intended to be a reference document to summarize the state of the art in the methodologies for performing risk assessment of cascading outages caused by some initiating event(s). A risk assessment should cover the entire potential chain of cascades starting with the initiating event(s) and ending with some final condition(s). However, this is a difficult task and heuristic approaches and approximations have been suggested. This paper discusses different approaches to this and suggests directions for future development of methodologies. The second paper summarizes the state of the art in modeling tools for risk assessment of cascading outages.
Survey of tools for risk assessment of cascading outages
Papic, Milorad; Bell, Keith; Chen, Yousu; Dobson, Ian; Fonte, Louis; Haq, Enamul; Hines, Paul; Kirschen, Daniel; Luo, Xiaochuan; Miller, Stephen; Samaan, Nader A.; Vaiman, Marianna; Varghese, Matthew; Zhang, Pei
Abstract-This paper is a result of ongoing activity carried out by Understanding, Prediction, Mitigation and Restoration of Cascading Failures Task Force under IEEE Computer Analytical Methods Subcommittee (CAMS). The task force's previous papers [1, 2] are focused on general aspects of cascading outages such as understanding, prediction, prevention and restoration from cascading failures. This is the second of two new papers, which extend this previous work to summarize the state of the art in cascading failure risk analysis methodologies and modeling tools. The first paper reviews the state of the art in methodologies for performing risk assessment of potential cascading outages [3]. This paper describes the state of the art in cascading failure modeling tools, documenting the view of experts representing utilities, universities and consulting companies. The paper is intended to constitute a valid source of information and references about presently available tools that deal with prediction of cascading failure events. This effort involves reviewing published literature and other documentation from vendors, universities and research institutions. The assessment of cascading outages risk evaluation is in continuous evolution. Investigations to gain even better understanding and identification of cascading events are the subject of several research programs underway aimed at solving the complexity of these events that electrical utilities face today. Assessing the risk of cascading failure events in planning and operation for power transmission systems require adequate mathematical tools/software.
Defining resilience within a risk-informed assessment framework
Coles, Garill A.; Unwin, Stephen D.; Holter, Gregory M.; Bass, Robert B.; Dagle, Jeffery E.
The concept of resilience is the subject of considerable discussion in academic, business, and governmental circles. The United States Department of Homeland Security for one has emphasised the need to consider resilience in safeguarding critical infrastructure and key resources. The concept of resilience is complex, multidimensional, and defined differently by different stakeholders. The authors contend that there is a benefit in moving from discussing resilience as an abstraction to defining resilience as a measurable characteristic of a system. This paper proposes defining resilience measures using elements of a traditional risk assessment framework to help clarify the concept of resilience and as a way to provide non-traditional risk information. The authors show various, diverse dimensions of resilience can be quantitatively defined in a common risk assessment framework based on the concept of loss of service. This allows the comparison of options for improving the resilience of infrastructure and presents a means to perform cost-benefit analysis. This paper discusses definitions and key aspects of resilience, presents equations for the risk of loss of infrastructure function that incorporate four key aspects of resilience that could prevent or mitigate that loss, describes proposed resilience factor definitions based on those risk impacts, and provides an example that illustrates how resilience factors would be calculated using a hypothetical scenario.
Baseline biological risk assessment for aquatic populations occurring near Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska
Dauble, D.; Brandt, C.; Lewis, R.; Smith, R.
Eielson Air Force Base (AFB), Alaska was listed as a Superfund site in November 1989 with 64 potential source areas of contamination. As part of a sitewide remedial investigation, baseline risk assessments were conducted in 1993 and 1994 to evaluate hazards posed to biological receptors and to human health. Fish tissue, aquatic invertebrates, aquatic vegetation, sediment, and surface water data were collected from several on-site and off-site surface water bodies. An initial screening risk assessment indicated that several surface water sites along two major tributary creeks flowing through the base had unacceptable risks to both aquatic receptors and to human health because of DDTs. Other contaminants of concern (i.e., PCBs and PAHs) were below screening risk levels for aquatic organisms, but contributed to an unacceptable risk to human health. Additional samples was taken in 1994 to characterize the site-wide distribution of PAHs, DDTs, and PCBs in aquatic biota and sediments. Concentrations of PAHs were invertebrates > aquatic vegetation > fish, but concentrations were sufficiently low that they posed no significant risk to biological receptors. Pesticides were detected in all fish tissue samples. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were also detected in most fish from Garrison Slough. The pattern of PCB concentrations in Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) was related to their proximity to a sediment source in lower Garrison Slough. Ingestion of PCB-contaminated fish is the primary human-health risk driver for surface water bodies on Eielson AFB, resulting in carcinogenic risks > 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}4} for future recreational land-use at some sites. Principal considerations affecting uncertainty in the risk assessment process included spatial and temporal variability in media contaminant concentrations and inconsistencies between modelled and measured body burdens.
Risk Informed Margins Management as part of Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization
Curtis Smith
The ability to better characterize and quantify safety margin is important to improved decision making about Light Water Reactor (LWR) design, operation, and plant life extension. A systematic approach to characterization of safety margins and the subsequent margin management options represents a vital input to the licensee and regulatory analysis and decision making that will be involved. In addition, as research and development in the LWR Sustainability (LWRS) Program and other collaborative efforts yield new data, sensors, and improved scientific understanding of physical processes that govern the aging and degradation of plant SSCs needs and opportunities to better optimize plant safety and performance will become known. To support decision making related to economics, readability, and safety, the Risk Informed Safety Margin Characterization (RISMC) Pathway provides methods and tools that enable mitigation options known as risk informed margins management (RIMM) strategies.
Review of the Diablo Canyon probabilistic risk assessment
Bozoki, G.E.; Fitzpatrick, R.G.; Bohn, M.P.; Sabek, M.G.; Ravindra, M.K.; Johnson, J.J.
This report details the review of the Diablo Canyon Probabilistic Risk Assessment (DCPRA). The study was performed under contract from the Probabilistic Risk Analysis Branch, Office of Nuclear Reactor Research, USNRC by Brookhaven National Laboratory. The DCPRA is a full scope Level I effort and although the review touched on all aspects of the PRA, the internal events and seismic events received the vast majority of the review effort. The report includes a number of independent systems analyses sensitivity studies, importance analyses as well as conclusions on the adequacy of the DCPRA for use in the Diablo Canyon Long Term Seismic Program.
Produced water discharges to the Gulf of Mexico: Background information for ecological risk assessments
Meinhold, A.F.; Holtzman, S.; DePhillips, M.P.
This report reviews ecological risk assessment concepts and methods; describes important biological resources in the Gulf of Mexico of potential concern for produced water impacts; and summarizes data available to estimate exposure and effects of produced water discharges. The emphasis is on data relating to produced water discharges in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, especially in Louisiana. Much of the summarized data and cited literature are relevant to assessments of impacts in other regions. Data describing effects on marine and estuarine fishes, mollusks, crustaceans and benthic invertebrates are emphasized. This review is part of a series of studies of the health and ecological risks from discharges of produced water to the Gulf of Mexico. These assessments will provide input to regulators in the development of guidelines and permits, and to industry in the use of appropriate discharge practices.
Environmental Assessment for Final Rule 10 CFR Parts 433 and...
Office of Environmental Management (EM)
Standards for New Federal Commercial and High-Rise Multi-Family Residential Buildings and 10 CFR Part 435, Energy Efficiency Standards for New Federal Residential Low-Rise ...
Risk assessment and management of radiofrequency radiation exposure
Dabala, Dana; Surducan, Emanoil; Surducan, Vasile; Neamtu, Camelia
Radiofrequency radiation (RFR) industry managers, occupational physicians, security department, and other practitioners must be advised on the basic of biophysics and the health effects of RF electromagnetic fields so as to guide the management of exposure. Information on biophysics of RFR and biological/heath effects is derived from standard texts, literature and clinical experiences. Emergency treatment and ongoing care is outlined, with clinical approach integrating the circumstances of exposure and the patient's symptoms. Experimental risk assessment model in RFR chronic exposure is proposed. Planning for assessment and monitoring exposure, ongoing care, safety measures and work protection are outlining the proper management.
Hanford safety analysis and risk assessment handbook (SARAH)
The purpose of the Hanford Safety Analysis and Risk Assessment Handbook (SARAH) is to support the development of safety basis documentation for Hazard Category 1,2, and 3 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) nuclear facilities. SARAH describes currently acceptable methodology for development of a Documented Safety Analysis (DSA) and derivation of technical safety requirements (TSR) based on 10 CFR 830, ''Nuclear Safety Management,'' Subpart B, ''Safety Basis Requirements,'' and provides data to ensure consistency in approach.
Advanced Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) Demonstration
Curtis Smith; Steven Prescott; Tony Koonce
A key area of the Advanced Small Modular Reactor (SMR) Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) strategy is the development of methodologies and tools that will be used to predict the safety, security, safeguards, performance, and deployment viability of SMRs. The goal of the SMR PRA activity will be to develop quantitative methods and tools and the associated analysis framework for assessing a variety of risks. Development and implementation of SMR-focused safety assessment methods may require new analytic methods or adaptation of traditional methods to the advanced design and operational features of SMRs. We will need to move beyond the current limitations such as static, logic-based models in order to provide more integrated, scenario-based models based upon predictive modeling which are tied to causal factors. The development of SMR-specific safety models for margin determination will provide a safety case that describes potential accidents, design options (including postulated controls), and supports licensing activities by providing a technical basis for the safety envelope. This report documents the progress that was made to implement the PRA framework, specifically by way of demonstration of an advanced 3D approach to representing, quantifying and understanding flooding risks to a nuclear power plant.
A mathematically guided strategy for risk assessment and management.
Cooper, James Arlin
Strategies for risk assessment and management of high consequence operations are often based on factors such as physical analysis, analysis of software and other logical processing, and analysis of statistically determined human actions. Conventional analysis methods work well for processing objective information. However, in practical situations, much or most of the data available are subjective. Also, there are potential resultant pitfalls where conventional analysis might be unrealistic, such as improperly using event tree and fault tree failure descriptions where failures or events are soft (partial) rather than crisp (binary), neglecting or misinterpreting dependence (positive, negative, correlation), and aggregating nonlinear contributions linearly. There are also personnel issues that transcend basic human factors statistics. For example, sustained productivity and safety in critical operations can depend on the morale of involved personnel. In addition, motivation is significantly influenced by 'latent effects', which are pre-occurring influences. This paper addresses these challenges and proposes techniques for subjective risk analysis, latent effects risk analysis and a hybrid analysis that also includes objective risk analysis. The goal is an improved strategy for risk management.
Waste minimization assessment for a manufacturer of iron castings and fabricated sheet metal parts
Fleischman, M.; Harris, J.J.; Handmaker, A.; Looby, G.P.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has funded a pilot project to assist small and medium-size manufacturers who want to minimize their generation of waste but who lack the expertise to do so. Waste Minimization Assessment Centers (WMACs) were established at selected universities and procedures were adapted from the EPA Waste Minimization Opportunity Assessment Manual. That document has been superseded by the Facility Pollution Prevention Guide. The WMAC team at the University of Louisville performed an assessment at a plant that manufactures iron castings and fabricated sheet metal parts. Foundry operations include mixing and mold formation, core making, metal pouring, shakeout, finishing, and painting. Cutting, shaping, and welding are the principal metal fabrication operations. The team`s report, detailing findings and recommendations indicated that paint-related wastes are generated in large quantities, and that significant waste reduction and cost savings could be realized by installing a dry powder coating system or by replacing conventional air spray paint guns with high-volume low-pressure spray guns. This research brief was developed by the principal investigators and EPA`s National Risk Management Research Laboratory, Cincinnati, OH, to announce key findings of an ongoing research project that is fully documented in a separate report of the same title available from University City Science Center.
Assessment of mercury health risks to adults from coal combustion
Lipfert, F.W.; Moskowitz, P.D.; Fthenakis, V.M.; DePhillips, M.P.; Viren, J.; Saroff, L.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is preparing, for the U.S. Congress, a report evaluating the need to regulate mercury (Hg) emissions from electric utilities. This study, to be completed in 1995, will have important health and economic implications. In support of these efforts, the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy, sponsored a risk assessment project at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) to evaluate methylmercury (MeHg) hazards independently. In the BNL study, health risks to adults resulting from Hg emissions from a hypothetical 1000 MW{sub e} coal-fired power plant were estimated using probabilistic risk assessment techniques. The approach draws on the extant knowledge in each of the important steps in the calculation chain from emissions to health effects. Estimated results at key points in the chain were compared with actual measurements to help validate the modeled estimates. Two cases were considered: the baseline case (no local impacts), and the impact case (maximum local power-plant impact). The BNL study showed that the effects of emissions of a single power plant may double the background exposures to MeHg resulting from consuming fish obtained from a localized area near the power plant. Many implicit and explicit sources of uncertainty exist in this analysis. Those that appear to be most in need of improvement include data on doses and responses for potentially sensitive subpopulations (e.g., fetal exposures). Rather than considering hypothetical situations, it would also be preferable to assess the risks associated with actual coal-fired power plants and the nearby sensitive water bodies and susceptible subpopulations. Finally, annual total Hg emissions from coal burning and from other anthropogenic sources are still uncertain; this makes it difficult to estimate the effects of U.S. coal burning on global Hg concentration levels, especially over the long term.
Produced water radionuclide hazard/risk assessment, Phase 1
Hamilton, L.D.; Meinhold, A.F.; Nagy, J.
Petroleum production may be accompanied by the production of saline water, called ``produced water.`` Produced water discharged into freshwater streams, estuaries, coastal and outer continental shelf waters can contained enhanced levels of radium isotopes. This document reports on the first phase of a study to estimate the risk to human health and the environment from radium discharged in produced water. The study involved five major steps: (1) evaluate the usefulness of available produced water outfall data for developing estimates of radium environmental concentrations; (2) review the literature on the bioaccumulation of radium by aquatic organism; (3) review the literature on the effects of radiation on aquatic organisms; (4) review the information available concerning the human health risks associated with exposure to Ra-226 and Ra-228 and (5) perform a conservative, screening-level assessment of the health and environmental risks posed by Ra-226 and Ra-228 discharged in produced waters. A screening-level analysis was performed to determine whether radium discharged to coastal Louisiana in produced waters presents potential health or environmental risks requiring further study. This conservative assessment suggested that no detectable impact on populations of fish, molluscs or crustaceans from radium discharged in produced waters is likely. The analysis also suggested that there is a potential for risk were an individual to ingest a large amount of seafood harvested near a produced water discharge point over a lifetime. The number of excess cancers predicted per year under a conservative scenario is comparable to those expected to result from background concentrations of radium.
Produced water radionuclide hazard/risk assessment, Phase 1
Hamilton, L.D.; Meinhold, A.F.; Nagy, J.
Petroleum production may be accompanied by the production of saline water, called produced water.'' Produced water discharged into freshwater streams, estuaries, coastal and outer continental shelf waters can contained enhanced levels of radium isotopes. This document reports on the first phase of a study to estimate the risk to human health and the environment from radium discharged in produced water. The study involved five major steps: (1) evaluate the usefulness of available produced water outfall data for developing estimates of radium environmental concentrations; (2) review the literature on the bioaccumulation of radium by aquatic organism; (3) review the literature on the effects of radiation on aquatic organisms; (4) review the information available concerning the human health risks associated with exposure to Ra-226 and Ra-228 and (5) perform a conservative, screening-level assessment of the health and environmental risks posed by Ra-226 and Ra-228 discharged in produced waters. A screening-level analysis was performed to determine whether radium discharged to coastal Louisiana in produced waters presents potential health or environmental risks requiring further study. This conservative assessment suggested that no detectable impact on populations of fish, molluscs or crustaceans from radium discharged in produced waters is likely. The analysis also suggested that there is a potential for risk were an individual to ingest a large amount of seafood harvested near a produced water discharge point over a lifetime. The number of excess cancers predicted per year under a conservative scenario is comparable to those expected to result from background concentrations of radium.
Webinar April 26: Overview of HyRAM (Hydrogen Risk Assessment...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Assessment Models) Software for Science-Based Safety, Codes, and Standards Webinar April 26: Overview of HyRAM (Hydrogen Risk Assessment Models) Software for Science-Based ...
Modeling Exposure to Persistent Chemicals in Hazard and Risk Assessment
Cowan-Ellsberry, Christina E.; McLachlan, Michael S.; Arnot, Jon A.; MacLeod, Matthew; McKone, Thomas E.; Wania, Frank
Fate and exposure modeling has not thus far been explicitly used in the risk profile documents prepared to evaluate significant adverse effect of candidate chemicals for either the Stockholm Convention or the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. However, we believe models have considerable potential to improve the risk profiles. Fate and exposure models are already used routinely in other similar regulatory applications to inform decisions, and they have been instrumental in building our current understanding of the fate of POP and PBT chemicals in the environment. The goal of this paper is to motivate the use of fate and exposure models in preparing risk profiles in the POP assessment procedure by providing strategies for incorporating and using models. The ways that fate and exposure models can be used to improve and inform the development of risk profiles include: (1) Benchmarking the ratio of exposure and emissions of candidate chemicals to the same ratio for known POPs, thereby opening the possibility of combining this ratio with the relative emissions and relative toxicity to arrive at a measure of relative risk. (2) Directly estimating the exposure of the environment, biota and humans to provide information to complement measurements, or where measurements are not available or are limited. (3) To identify the key processes and chemical and/or environmental parameters that determine the exposure; thereby allowing the effective prioritization of research or measurements to improve the risk profile. (4) Predicting future time trends including how quickly exposure levels in remote areas would respond to reductions in emissions. Currently there is no standardized consensus model for use in the risk profile context. Therefore, to choose the appropriate model the risk profile developer must evaluate how appropriate an existing model is for a specific setting and whether the assumptions and input data are relevant in the context of the application
Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Technical Exchanges Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Technical Exchanges PA CoP has ...
Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP...
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) P&RA CoP's Technical Exchange Meeting held on December ...
How information resources are used by state agencies in risk assessment applications - Illinois
Olson, C.S.
The Environmental Protection Agency of the State of Illinois (Illinois EPA) has programs in water, air, and land pollution and water supplies paralleling those of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The organization is part of a tripartite arrangement in which the Pollution Control Board is the judicial arm, the Department of Energy and Natural Resources is the research arm, and the Illinois EPA is the enforcement arm. Other state agencies are also concerned with various aspects of the environment and may do risk assessments for chemicals. Although there are various risk assessment activities, both formal and informal, in our agency and in others, this paper will discuss only recent initiatives in water quality criteria.
Licensing topical report: application of probabilistic risk assessment in the selection of design basis accidents. [HTGR
Houghton, W.J.
A probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) approach is proposed to be used to scrutinize selection of accident sequences. A technique is described in this Licensing Topical Report to identify candidates for Design Basis Accidents (DBAs) utilizing the risk assessment results. As a part of this technique, it is proposed that events with frequencies below a specified limit would not be candidates. The use of the methodology described is supplementary to the traditional, deterministic approach and may result, in some cases, in the selection of multiple failure sequences as DBAs; it may also provide a basis for not considering some traditionally postulated events as being DBAs. A process is then described for selecting a list of DBAs based on the candidates from PRA as supplementary to knowledge and judgments from past licensing practice. These DBAs would be the events considered in Chapter 15 of Safety Analysis Reports of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs).
Assessing Vulnerabilities, Risks, and Consequences of Damage to Critical Infrastructure
Suski, N; Wuest, C
Since the publication of 'Critical Foundations: Protecting America's Infrastructure,' there has been a keen understanding of the complexity, interdependencies, and shared responsibility required to protect the nation's most critical assets that are essential to our way of life. The original 5 sectors defined in 1997 have grown to 18 Critical Infrastructures and Key Resources (CIKR), which are discussed in the 2009 National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) and its supporting sector-specific plans. The NIPP provides the structure for a national program dedicated to enhanced protection and resiliency of the nation's infrastructure. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) provides in-depth, multi-disciplinary assessments of threat, vulnerability, and consequence across all 18 sectors at scales ranging from specific facilities to infrastructures spanning multi-state regions, such as the Oil and Natural Gas (ONG) sector. Like many of the CIKR sectors, the ONG sector is comprised of production, processing, distribution, and storage of highly valuable and potentially dangerous commodities. Furthermore, there are significant interdependencies with other sectors, including transportation, communication, finance, and government. Understanding the potentially devastating consequences and collateral damage resulting from a terrorist attack or natural event is an important element of LLNL's infrastructure security programs. Our work began in the energy sector in the late 1990s and quickly expanded other critical infrastructure sectors. We have performed over 600 physical assessments with a particular emphasis on those sectors that utilize, store, or ship potentially hazardous materials and for whom cyber security is important. The success of our approach is based on building awareness of vulnerabilities and risks and working directly with industry partners to collectively advance infrastructure protection. This approach consists of three phases: The Pre-Assessment
Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
| Department of Energy Practice Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice Presentation from the 2015 Annual Performance and Risk Assessment (P&RA) Community of Practice (CoP) Technical Exchange Meeting held in Richland, Washington on December 15-16, 2015. Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (1.71 MB) More Documents & Publications Status Updates on the Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice
Draft final risk assessment lime settling basins. Version 2. 1
Not Available
The preferred alternative Lime Settling Basins (LSB) Interim Response Action (IRA) selected to inhibit further migration of contaminants from the LSB included moving the stockpiled lime sludge adjacent to the LSB back into the LSB, the construction of a subsurface barrier (i.e., slurry wall), placement of a soil cap and vegative cover, and the installation of a groundwater extraction system. This IRA is expected to be completed in approximately 6 months. The LSB IRA Risk Assessment (RA) presents the methodologies, quantitative and qualitative results, and assumptions used to determine if a potential risk exists to humans and biota from the activities of the LSB IRA. The activities associated with the relocation of the lime sludge into the LSB and the installation of the slurry wall are the focus of this RA, since they include disturbance of soils identified as contaminated.
Advanced Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessment Demonstration Project Plan
Justin Coleman
Idaho National Laboratories (INL) has an ongoing research and development (R&D) project to remove excess conservatism from seismic probabilistic risk assessments (SPRA) calculations. These risk calculations should focus on providing best estimate results, and associated insights, for evaluation and decision-making. This report presents a plan for improving our current traditional SPRA process using a seismic event recorded at a nuclear power plant site, with known outcomes, to improve the decision making process. SPRAs are intended to provide best estimates of the various combinations of structural and equipment failures that can lead to a seismic induced core damage event. However, in general this approach has been conservative, and potentially masks other important events (for instance, it was not the seismic motions that caused the Fukushima core melt events, but the tsunami ingress into the facility).
Framework for Risk Analysis in Multimedia Environmental Systems: Modeling Individual Steps of a Risk Assessment Process
Shah, Anuj; Castleton, Karl J.; Hoopes, Bonnie L.
The study of the release and effects of chemicals in the environment and their associated risks to humans is central to public and private decision making. FRAMES 1.X, Framework for Risk Analysis in Multimedia Environmental Systems, is a systems modeling software platform, developed by PNNL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, that helps scientists study the release and effects of chemicals on a source to outcome basis, create environmental models for similar risk assessment and management problems. The unique aspect of FRAMES is to dynamically introduce software modules representing individual components of a risk assessment (e.g., source release of contaminants, fate and transport in various environmental media, exposure, etc.) within a software framework, manipulate their attributes and run simulations to obtain results. This paper outlines the fundamental constituents of FRAMES 2.X, an enhanced version of FRAMES 1.X, that greatly improve the ability of the module developers to "plug" their self-developed software modules into the system. The basic design, the underlying principles and a discussion of the guidelines for module developers are presented.
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incineration facility (East Liverpool, Ohio). Volume 7. Accident analysis; selection and assessment of potential release scenarios
In this part of the assessment, several accident scenarios are identified that could result in significant releases of chemicals into the environment. These scenarios include ruptures of storage tanks, large magnitude on-site spills, mixing of incompatible wastes, and off-site releases caused by tranpsortation accidents. In evaluating these scenarios, both probability and consequence are assessed, so that likelihood of occurrence is coupled with magnitude of effect in characterizing short term risks.
Approach on environmental risk assessment of nanosilver released from textiles
Voelker, Doris; Schlich, Karsten; Hohndorf, Lars; Koch, Wolfgang; Kuehnen, Ute; Polleichtner, Christian; Kussatz, Carola; Hund-Rinke, Kerstin
Based on the increased utilization of nanosilver (silver nanomaterials=AgNM) as antibacterial agent, there is the strong need to assess the potential environmental implication associated with its new application areas. In this study an exemplary environmental risk assessment (ERA) of AgNM applied in textiles was performed. Environmental exposure scenarios (via municipal sewage treatment plant (STP)) with wastewater supply from domestic homes) were developed for three different types of textiles equipped with AgNM. Based on these scenarios predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) were deduced for STPs and for the environmental compartments surface water, sediment as well as soil. These PECs were related to PNECs (predicted no effect concentrations). PNECs were deduced from results of ecotoxicity tests of a selected AgNM (NM-300K). Data on ecotoxicology were derived from various tests with activated sludge, cyanobacteria, algae, daphnids, fish, duckweed, macrophytes, chironomids, earthworms, terrestrial plants as well as soil microorganisms. Emission data for the AgNM NM-300K from textiles were derived from washing experiments. The performed ERA was based on the specifications defined in the ECHA Guidances on information requirements and chemical safety assessment. Based on the chosen scenarios and preconditions, no environmental risk of the AgNM NM-300K released from textiles was detected. Under conservative assumptions a risk quotient for surface water close to 1 indicated that the aquatic compartment may be affected by an increased emission of AgNM to the environment due to the high sensitivity of aquatic organisms to silver. Based on the successful retention of AgNM in the sewage sludge and the still ongoing continual application of sewage sludge on farmland it is recommended to introduce a threshold for total silver content in sewage sludge into the respective regulations. Regarding potential risk mitigation measures, it is emphasized to preferably directly
Appendix C. Part 303 Wetland Permit Application, Wetland Impact Assessment and Compensatory
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
Part 303 Wetland Permit Application, Wetland Impact Assessment and Compensatory Mitigation Proposal DOE/EA-1709 C-1 APPENDIX C. PART 303 WETLAND PERMIT APPLICATION, WETLAND IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND COMPENSATORY MITIGATION PROPOSAL On January 28, 2010, Compact Power, Inc. submitted a Part 303 Wetland Permit Application, which contains a compensatory mitigation proposal, to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment. The application and proposal are contained in this appendix.
Quantitative fire risk assessment for a proposed tritium technology facility
Zeng, Y. )
A new Tritium Technology Facility has been proposed for the Chalk River Laboratories to support fusion research and the commercial use of tritium. One of the major safety and licensing issues for the new facility raised by the internal Safety Review Committee is the potential hazard fire poses to it. Fire could cause a large release from tritium from the facility's metal tritide storage beds, resulting in conversion of elemental tritium (HT) into oxide tritium (HTO). The radiological hazard of HTO is {approximately}10,000 times higher than that of HT. Because of the potential significance of fire in the tritium facility, a quantitative fire risk assessment has been conducted for the proposed new facility. The frequency of a large tritium release due to a fire in the Tritium Technology Facility was assessed as being on the order of 10{sup {minus}5} per year, which satisfies the safety goal requirement of the facility.
State and Regional Energy Risk Assessment Initiative | Department...
... Energy Sector Risk Profile Nevada State of Nevada Energy Sector Risk Profile New Hampshire State of New Hampshire Energy Sector Risk Profile New Jersey State of New Jersey ...
DOE Standard on Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in DOE
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
Nuclear Safety Applications (draft), December 2010 | Department of Energy Standard on Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in DOE Nuclear Safety Applications (draft), December 2010 DOE Standard on Development and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessment in DOE Nuclear Safety Applications (draft), December 2010 There have been significant developments with regard to the risk assessment and risk informed decision making, as it applies to nuclear and other safety areas, since the
D&D and Risk Assessment Tools | Department of Energy
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
and Risk Assessment Tools D&D and Risk Assessment Tools ORISE and PNNL both developed tools to assist in the risk assessment and planning of D&D activities. PNNL developed a Risk D&D tool, a rapid prototype computer based model, to evaluate alternatives in the sequencing of D&D work. D&D and Risk Assessment Tools (377.44 KB) More Documents & Publications An Automated JHA Tool, Making Safety Accessible Voluntary Protection Program Onsite Review, Oak Ridge Associated
Risk assessment of Cumberland unit 2 L-O blades
Lam, T.C.T.; Puri, A.
Concern about the reliability of the 1,300 mw Cumberland steam turbine units after an unexpected blade tip failure in the fall of 1995 caused TVA to conduct an investigation into the current reliability of the L-O blades. A probabilistic model based on the measured frequencies, damping and material fatigue data was generated. The influence of significant erosion damage on the blade natural frequencies and on the local stresses was estimated. A probabilistic model of the local fatigue limit was generated based on test data. Monte Carlo simulation was employed to estimate the probability of blade failure by comparing the dynamic stress with the fatigue limit. Risk assessment of the blade failure is presented.
Assessing ecological risks within a highly industrialized estuary
Bonnevie, N.L.; Iannuzzi, T.J.; Harman, C.H.
Ecological assessment (EA) was conducted for a landfill located along an industrialized river within the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. This estuary has been subjected to intense industrial and urban development throughout the past two centuries, resulting in alterations to the Site and regional ecology. For these reasons, consideration was given to the local and regional setting, and the relatively low quantity and degraded quality of habitats that exist in proximity to the Site. The EA focused on two ecological receptor groups: (1) aquatic receptors (i.e., benthic invertebrates and small forage fish) exposed primarily through direct contact with sediments and surface water; and (2) piscivorous species (i.e., great blue heron) for whom exposure is the result of trophic transfer through dietary intakes. Estimates of accumulation in prey species of the great blue heron were derived using a simplified food web model to predict trophic transfer. The primary chemicals of potential ecological concern (COPEC) included arsenic, selenium, mercury, as well as PCBs. Based on the results of this assessment, risk to piscivorous wildlife are very low; derived hazard quotients (HQ) were below one for all COPEC. HQ greater than one were observed for direct exposures to aquatic receptors, however, the HQ determined for exposures at the Site were generally within the range of those reported for sediments and surface waters throughout the NY/NJ Harbor Estuary. In addition, numerous non-chemical stressors were identified that likely significantly affect the health and abundance of aquatic organisms. For these reasons, the Site was determined not to contribute an increased risk to ecological receptors above a regional level.
Assessment of OEP health's risk in nuclear medicine
Santacruz-Gomez, K.; Manzano, C.; Melendrez, R.; Castaneda, B.; Barboza-Flores, M.; Pedroza-Montero, M.
The use of ionizing radiation has been increased in recent years within medical applications. Nuclear Medicine Department offers both treatment and diagnosis of diseases using radioisotopes to controlled doses. Despite the great benefits to the patient, there is an inherent risk to workers which remains in contact with radiation sources for long periods. These personnel must be monitored to avoid deterministic effects. In this work, we retrospectively evaluated occupationally exposed personnel (OEP) to ionizing radiation in nuclear medicine during the last five years. We assessed both area and personal dosimetry of this department in a known Clinic in Sonora. Our results show an annual equivalent dose average of 4.49 {+-} 0.70 mSv in OEP without showing alarming changes in clinical parameters analyzed. These results allow us to conclude that health of OEP in nuclear medicine of this clinic has not been at risk during the evaluated period. However, we may suggest the use of individual profiles based on specific radiosensitivity markers.
A review of NRC staff uses of probabilistic risk assessment
Not Available
The NRC staff uses probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) and risk management as important elements its licensing and regulatory processes. In October 1991, the NRC`s Executive Director for Operations established the PRA Working Group to address concerns identified by the Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards with respect to unevenness and inconsistency in the staff`s current uses of PRA. After surveying current staff uses of PRA and identifying needed improvements, the Working Group defined a set of basic principles for staff PRA use and identified three areas for improvements: guidance development, training enhancements, and PRA methods development. For each area of improvement, the Working Group took certain actions and recommended additional work. The Working Group recommended integrating its work with other recent PRA-related activities the staff completed and improving staff interactions with PRA users in the nuclear industry. The Working Group took two key actions by developing general guidance for two uses of PRA within the NRC (that is, screening or prioritizing reactor safety issues and analyzing such issues in detail) and developing guidance on basic terms and methods important to the staff`s uses of PRA.
Risk management of undesirable substances in feed following updated risk assessments
Verstraete, Frans
Directive 2002/32/EC of 7 May 2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on undesirable substances in animal feed is the framework for the EU action on undesirable substances in feed. This framework Directive provides: ?that products intended for animal feed may enter for use in the Union from third countries, be put into circulation and/or used in the Union only if they are sound, genuine and of merchantable quality and therefore when correctly used do not represent any danger to human health, animal health or to the environment or could adversely affect livestock production. ?that in order to protect animal and public health and the environment, maximum levels for specific undesirable substances shall be established where necessary. ?for mandatory consultation of a scientific body (EFSA) for all provisions which may have an effect upon public health or animal health or on the environment. ?that products intended for animal feed containing levels of an undesirable substance that exceed the established maximum level may not be mixed for dilution purposes with the same, or other, products intended for animal feed and may not be used for the production of compound feed. Based on the provisions and principles laid down in this framework Directive, maximum levels for a whole range of undesirable substances have been established at EU level. During the discussions in view of the adoption of Directive 2002/32/EC, the European Commission made the commitment to review all existing provisions on undesirable substances on the basis of updated scientific risk assessments. Following requests of the European Commission, the Panel on Contaminants in the Food Chain (CONTAM) from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has completed a series of 30 risk assessments undertaken over the last 5 years on undesirable substances in animal feed reviewing the possible risks for animal and human health due to the presence of these substances in animal feed. EU legislation on
Environmental Assessment for Proposed Rule 10 CFR Parts 433 and 435
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
Document details the environmental assessment for Proposed Rule 10 CFR Part 433, Sustainable Design and Energy Efficiency Standards for New Federal Commercial and High-Rise Multi-Family Residential Buildings and 10 CFR Part 435, Sustainable Design and Energy Efficiency Standards for New Federal Residential Low-Rise Residential Buildings (DOE/EA-1463).
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incinerator facility (east Liverpool, Ohio)
The report constitutes a comprehensive site-specific risk assessment for the WTI incineration facility located in East Liverpool, OH. Volume I is a description of the components and methodologies used in the risk assessment and provides a summary of the major results from the three components of the assessment.
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incinerator facility (east Liverpool, Ohio). Volume 6. Screening ecological risk assessment (SERA). Draft report
This report constitutes a comprehensive site-specific risk assessment for the WTI incineration facility located in East Liverpool, OH. The Screening Ecological Risk Assessment (SERA) is an analysis of the potential significance of risks to ecological receptors (e.g., plants, fish, wildlife) from exposure to facility emissions. The SERA was performed using conservative assumptions and approaches to determine if a further, more refined analysis is warranted. Volume VI describes in detail the methods used in the SERA and reports the results of the SERA in terms of site-specific risks to ecological receptors.
WM2014 Conference- Building the Community of Practice for Performance and Risk Assessment in Support of Risk-Informed Environmental Management Decisions
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
WM2014 Conference - Building the Community of Practice for Performance and Risk Assessment in Support of Risk-Informed Environmental Management Decisions - 14575
Guidance Manual for Conducting Screening Level Ecological Risk Assessments at the INEL
R. L. VanHorn; N. L. Hampton; R. C. Morris
This document presents reference material for conducting screening level ecological risk assessments (SLERAs)for the waste area groups (WAGs) at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. Included in this document are discussions of the objectives of and processes for conducting SLERAs. The Environmental Protection Agency ecological risk assessment framework is closely followed. Guidance for site characterization, stressor characterization, ecological effects, pathways of contaminant migration, the conceptual site model, assessment endpoints, measurement endpoints, analysis guidance, and risk characterization are included.
An examination of the role of risk assessment in superfund program management, implementation, and evaluation
Bala, S.
Human health risk assessment is playing an increasing role in the characterization of the nature and extent of human health threats posed by Superfund hazardous waste sites, and the prioritization of these sites for remediation activities. Risk assessment also plays a central role in initiatives to measure and evaluate the program`s progress in remediating these sites, and in efforts to communicate that progress to a diverse audience. This paper examines the current role of risk assessment in Superfund`s program management, implementation, and evaluation activities, and advocates the need for a comprehensive plan to enhance and systematically apply risk assessment information across all of these activities. Specifically, this paper examines the role of risk assessment at three levels: (1) the current role of risk information in Superfund`s program management activities; (2) the current role of risk information in the implementation of site cleanup; (3) profile of Superfund`s approach to measuring, evaluating, and communicating site remediation progress via Environmental Indicators (EIs). Building on this three-level examination, this paper calls for the development of a comprehensive plan for the enhanced and systematic application of risk assessment information in Superfund`s program management, implementation, and evaluation activities. This paper also draws upon the current literature on risk assessment and measurement, risk-based planning and decision-making, and risk communication.
Historical Relationship Between Performance Assessment for Radioactive Waste Disposal and Other Types of Risk Assessment in the United States
This paper describes the evolution of the process for assessing the hazards of a geologic disposal system for radioactive waste and, similarly, nuclear power reactors, and the relationship of this process with other assessments of risk, particularly assessments of hazards from manufactured carcinogenic chemicals during use and disposal. This perspective reviews the common history of scientific concepts for risk assessment developed to the 1950s. Computational tools and techniques developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s to analyze the reliability of nuclear weapon delivery systems were adopted in the early 1970s for probabilistic risk assessment of nuclear power reactors, a technology for which behavior was unknown. In turn, these analyses became an important foundation for performance assessment of nuclear waste disposal in the late 1970s. The evaluation of risk to human health and the environment from chemical hazards is built upon methods for assessing the dose response of radionuclides in the 1950s. Despite a shared background, however, societal events, often in the form of legislation, have affected the development path for risk assessment for human health, producing dissimilarities between these risk assessments and those for nuclear facilities. An important difference is the regulator's interest in accounting for uncertainty and the tools used to evaluate it.
Risk Assessment in the RI/FS process, and derivation of cleanup...
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
- Conceptual Site Model, fate and transport, remedial action objectives Human Health Risk Assessment * Multiple "scenarios" were evaluated, each with different exposure assumptions...
Qualitative Risk Assessment For An LNG Refueling Station And Review Of Relevant Safety Issues, Revision 2
Siu, Nathan; Herring, J Stephen; Cadwallader, Lee; Reece, Wendy; Byers, James
This report is a qualitative assessment of the public and worker risk involved with the operation of liquefied natural gas vehicle refueling facility.
Agenda- Interagency Steering Committee on Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice Annual Technical Exchange Meeting
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
Final Agenda for the December, 2014 Interagency Steering Committee on Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice Annual Technical Exchange Meeting held in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Conformal coating value/risk assessment for Sandia satellite programs.
Russick, Edward Mark; Thayer, Gayle Echo
Conformal coatings are used in space applications on printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies primarily as a protective barrier against environmental contaminants. Such coatings have been used at Sandia for decades in satellite applications including the GPS satellite program. Recently, the value of conformal coating has been questioned because it is time consuming (requiring a 5-6 week schedule allowance) and delays due to difficulty of repairs and rework performed afterward are troublesome. In an effort to find opportunities where assembly time can be reduced, a review of the literature as well as discussions with satellite engineers both within and external to Sandia regarding the value of conformal coating was performed. Several sources on the value of conformal coating, the functions it performs, and on whether coatings are necessary and should be used at all were found, though nearly all were based on anecdotal information. The first section of this report, titled 'Conformal Coating for Space Applications', summarizes the results of an initial risk-value assessment of the conformal coating process for Sandia satellite programs based on information gathered. In the process of collecting information to perform the assessment, it was necessary to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the entire satellite box assembly process. A production time-line was constructed and is presented in the second section of this report, titled 'Satellite Box Assembly', specifically to identify potential sources of time delays, manufacturing issues, and component failures related to the conformal coating process in relation to the box assembly. The time-line also allows for identification of production issues that were anecdotally attributed to the conformal coating but actually were associated with other production steps in the box assembly process. It was constructed largely in consultation with GPS program engineers with empirical knowledge of times required to complete the
Computerized Radiological Risk Investigation System for Assessing Doses and Health Risks from Atmospheric Releases of Radionuclides.
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
Version: 00 CRRIS consists of eight fully integrated computer codes which calculate environmental transport of atmospheric releases of radionuclides and resulting doses and health risks to individuals or populations. Each code may be used alone for various assessment applications. Because of its modular structure, CRRIS allows assessments to be tailored to the user's needs. Radionuclides are handled by CRRIS either in terms of the released radionuclides or the exposure radionuclides which consist of both themore » released nuclides and decay products that build up during environmental transport. Atmospheric dispersion calculations are performed by the ANEMOS computer code for distances less than 100 km and by the RETADD-II computer code for regional-scale distances. Both codes estimate annual-average air concentrations and ground deposition rates by location. SUMIT will translate and scale multiple ANEMOS runs onto a master grid. TERRA reads radionuclide air concentrations and deposition rates to estimate concentrations of radionuclides in food and surface soil. Radiologic decay and ingrowth, soil leaching, and transport through the food chain are included in the calculations. MLSOIL computes an effective radionuclide ground-surface concentration to be used in computing external health effects. The five-layer model of radionuclide transport through soil in MLSOIL provides an alternative to the single-layer model used in TERRA. DFSOIL computes dose factors used in MLSOIL to compute doses from the five soil layers and from the ground surface. ANDROS reads environmental concentrations of radionuclides computed by the other CRRIS codes and produces tables of doses and risks to individuals or populations from atmospheric releases of radionuclides.« less
Tank Waste Remediation System decisions and risk assessment
Johnson, M.E.
The Tank Waste Remediation System (TWRS) mission is to store, treat, and immobilize the highly radioactive Hanford Site tank wastes and encapsulated cesium and strontium materials in an environmentally sound, safe, and cost effective manner. Additionally, the TWRS conducts, as part of this mission, resolution of safety issues associated with the wastes within the 177 underground radioactive waste tanks. Systems engineering principles are being applied to determine the functions and establish requirements necessary for accomplishing the TWRS mission (DOE 1994 draft). This systematic evaluation of the TWRS program has identified key decisions that must be executed to establish mission scope, determine requirements, or select a technical solution for accomplishing identified functions and requirements. Key decisions identified through the systematic evaluation of the TWRS mission are presented in this document. Potential alternative solutions to each decision are discussed. After-discussion and evaluation of each decision with effected stakeholder groups, the US Department of Energy (DOE) will select a solution from the identified alternatives for implementation. In order to proceed with the development and execution of the tank waste remediation program, the DOE has adopted a planning basis for several of these decisions, until a formal basis is established. The planning bases adopted by the DOE is continuing to be discussed with stakeholder groups to establish consensus for proceeding with proposed actions. Technical and programmatic risks associated with the planning basis adopted by the DOE are discussed.
Deciding which chemical mixtures risk assessment methods work best for what mixtures
Teuschler, Linda K.
The most commonly used chemical mixtures risk assessment methods involve simple notions of additivity and toxicological similarity. Newer methods are emerging in response to the complexities of chemical mixture exposures and effects. Factors based on both science and policy drive decisions regarding whether to conduct a chemical mixtures risk assessment and, if so, which methods to employ. Scientific considerations are based on positive evidence of joint toxic action, elevated human exposure conditions or the potential for significant impacts on human health. Policy issues include legislative drivers that may mandate action even though adequate toxicity data on a specific mixture may not be available and risk assessment goals that impact the choice of risk assessment method to obtain the amount of health protection desired. This paper discusses three important concepts used to choose among available approaches for conducting a chemical mixtures risk assessment: (1) additive joint toxic action of mixture components; (2) toxicological interactions of mixture components; and (3) chemical composition of complex mixtures. It is proposed that scientific support for basic assumptions used in chemical mixtures risk assessment should be developed by expert panels, risk assessment methods experts, and laboratory toxicologists. This is imperative to further develop and refine quantitative methods and provide guidance on their appropriate applications. Risk assessors need scientific support for chemical mixtures risk assessment methods in the form of toxicological data on joint toxic action for high priority mixtures, statistical methods for analyzing dose-response for mixtures, and toxicological and statistical criteria for determining sufficient similarity of complex mixtures.
Baseline Risk Assessment Supporting Closure at Waste Management Area C at the Hanford Site Washington
Singleton, Kristin M.
The Office of River Protection under the U.S. Department of Energy is pursuing closure of the Single-Shell Tank (SST) Waste Management Area (WMA) C under the requirements of the Hanford Federal Facility Agreement and Consent Order (HFFACO). A baseline risk assessment (BRA) of current conditions is based on available characterization data and information collected at WMA C. The baseline risk assessment is being developed as a part of a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Facility Investigation (RFI)/Corrective Measures Study (CMS) at WMA C that is mandatory under Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and RCRA corrective action. The RFI/CMS is needed to identify and evaluate the hazardous chemical and radiological contamination in the vadose zone from past releases of waste from WMA C. WMA C will be under Federal ownership and control for the foreseeable future, and managed as an industrial area with restricted access and various institutional controls. The exposure scenarios evaluated under these conditions include Model Toxics Control Act (MTCA) Method C, industrial worker, maintenance and surveillance worker, construction worker, and trespasser scenarios. The BRA evaluates several unrestricted land use scenarios (residential all-pathway, MTCA Method B, and Tribal) to provide additional information for risk management. Analytical results from 13 shallow zone (0 to 15 ft. below ground surface) sampling locations were collected to evaluate human health impacts at WMA C. In addition, soil analytical data were screened against background concentrations and ecological soil screening levels to determine if soil concentrations have the potential to adversely affect ecological receptors. Analytical data from 12 groundwater monitoring wells were evaluated between 2004 and 2013. A screening of groundwater monitoring data against background concentrations and Federal maximum concentration levels was used to determine vadose zone
A framework for assessing ecological risks of petroleum-derived materials in soil
Suter, G.W. II
Ecological risk assessment estimates the nature and likelihood of effects of human actions on nonhuman organisms, populations, and ecosystems. It is intended to be clearer and more rigorous in its approach to estimation of effects and uncertainties than previously employed methods of ecological assessment. Ecological risk assessment is characterized by a standard paradigm that includes problem formulation, analysis of exposure and effects, risk characterization, and communication with a risk manager. This report provides a framework that applies the paradigm to the specific problem of assessing the ecological risks of petroleum in soil. This type of approach requires that assessments be performed in phases: (1) a scoping assessment to determine whether there is a potential route of exposure for potentially significant ecological receptors; (2) a screening assessment to determine whether exposures could potentially reach toxic levels; and (3) a definitive assessment to estimate the nature, magnitude, and extent of risks. The principal technical issue addressed is the chemically complex nature of petroleum--a complexity that may be dealt with by assessing risks on the basis of properties of the whole material, properties of individual chemicals that are representative of chemical classes, distributions of properties of the constituents of chemical classes, properties of chemicals detected in the soil, and properties of indicator chemicals. The advantages and feasibility of these alternatives are discussed. The report concludes with research recommendations for improving each stage in the assessment process.
Information resources used in health risk assessment by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Post, G.B.; Baratta, M.; Wolfson, S.; McGeorge, L.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection`s responsibilities related to health-based risk assessment are described, including its research projects and its development of health based compound specific standards and guidance levels. The resources used by the agency to support health risk assessment work are outlined.
Ecological risk assessment guidance for preparation of remedial investigation/feasibility study work plans
Pentecost, E.D.; Vinikour, W.S.
This guidance document (1) provides instructions on preparing the components of an ecological work plan to complement the overall site remedial assessment investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) work plan and (2) directs the user on how to implement ecological tasks identified in the plan. Under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended by the Superfired Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA), an RI/FS work plan win have to be developed as part of the site-remediation scoping the process. Specific guidance on the RI/FS process and the preparation of work plans has been developed by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1988a). This document provides guidance to US Department of Energy (DOE) staff and contractor personnel for incorporation of ecological information into environmental remediation planning and decision making at CERCLA sites. An overview analysis of early ecological risk assessment methods (i.e., in the 1980s) at Superfund sites was conducted by the EPA (1989a). That review provided a perspective of attention given to ecological issues in some of the first RI/FS studies. By itself, that reference is of somewhat limited value; it does, however, establish a basis for comparison of past practices in ecological risk with current, more refined methods.
Nuclear Risk Assessment for the Mars 2020 Mission Environmental Impact Statement
Clayton, Daniel J.; Bignell, John; Jones, Christopher A.; Rohe, Daniel P.; Flores, Gregg J.; Bartel, Timothy J.; Gelbard, Fred; Le, San; Morrow, Charles W.; Potter, Donald L.; Young, Larry W.; Bixler, Nathan E.; Lipinski, Ronald J.
In the summer of 2020, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) plans to launch a spacecraft as part of the Mars 2020 mission. One option for the rover on the proposed spacecraft uses a Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG) to provide continuous electrical and thermal power for the mission. An alternative option being considered is a set of solar panels for electrical power with up to 80 Light-Weight Radioisotope Heater Units (LWRHUs) for local component heating. Both the MMRTG and the LWRHUs use radioactive plutonium dioxide. NASA is preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act. The EIS will include information on the risks of mission accidents to the general public and on-site workers at the launch complex. This Nuclear Risk Assessment (NRA) addresses the responses of the MMRTG or LWRHU options to potential accident and abort conditions during the launch opportunity for the Mars 2020 mission and the associated consequences. This information provides the technical basis for the radiological risks of both options for the EIS.
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incinerator facility (east Liverpool, Ohio). Volume 5. Human health risk assessment (HHRA): Evaluation of potential risks from multipathway exposure to emissions. Draft report
The Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) portion of the WTI Risk Assessment involves the integration of information about the facility with site-specific data for the surrounding region and population to characterize the potential human health risks due to emissions from the facility. The estimation of human health risks is comprised of the following general steps: (1) identification of substances of potential concern; (2) estimation of the nature and magnitude of chemical releases from the WTI facility; (3) prediction of the atmospheric transport of the emitted contaminants; (4) determination of the types of adverse effects associated with exposure to the substances of potential concern (referred to as hazard identification), and the relationship between the level of exposure and the severity of any health effect (referred to as dose-response assessment); (5) estimation of the magnitude of exposure (referred to as exposure assessment); and (6) characterization of the health risks associated with exposure (referred to as risk characterization).
Use of hazard assessments to achieve risk reduction in the USDOE Stockpile Stewardship (SS-21) Program
Fischer, S.R.; Konkel, H.; Bott, T.; Eisenhawer, S.W.; DeYoung, L.; Hockert, J.
This paper summarizes the nuclear explosive hazard assessment activities performed to support US Department of Energy (DOE) Stockpile Stewardship Demonstration Project SS-21, better known as the ``Seamless Safety`` program. Past practice within the DOE Complex has dictated the use of a significant number of post-design/fabrication safety reviews to analyze the safety associated with operations on nuclear explosives and to answer safety questions. These practices have focused on reviewing-in or auditing-in safety vs incorporating safety in the design process. SS-21 was proposed by the DOE as an avenue to develop a program to ``integrate established, recognized, verifiable safety criteria into the process at the design stage rather than continuing the reliance on reviews, evaluations and audits.`` The entire Seamless Safety design and development process is verified by a concurrent hazard assessment (HA). The primary purpose of the SS-21 Demonstration Project HA was to demonstrate the feasibility of performing concurrent HAs as part of an engineering design and development effort and then to evaluate the use of the HA to provide an indication in the risk reduction or gain in safety achieved. To accomplish this objective, HAs were performed on both baseline (i.e., old) and new (i.e. SS-21) B61-0 Center Case Section disassembly processes. These HAs were used to support the identification and documentation of weapon- and process-specific hazards and safety-critical operating steps. Both HAs focused on identifying accidents that had the potential for worker injury, public health effects, facility damage, toxic gas release, and dispersal of radioactive materials. A comparison of the baseline and SS-21 process risks provided a semi-quantitative estimate of the risk reduction gained via the Seamless Safety process.
Development of an Automated Security Risk Assessment Methodology Tool for Critical Infrastructures.
Jaeger, Calvin D.; Roehrig, Nathaniel S.; Torres, Teresa M.
This document presents the security automated Risk Assessment Methodology (RAM) prototype tool developed by Sandia National Laboratories (SNL). This work leverages SNL's capabilities and skills in security risk analysis and the development of vulnerability assessment/risk assessment methodologies to develop an automated prototype security RAM tool for critical infrastructures (RAM-CITM). The prototype automated RAM tool provides a user-friendly, systematic, and comprehensive risk-based tool to assist CI sector and security professionals in assessing and managing security risk from malevolent threats. The current tool is structured on the basic RAM framework developed by SNL. It is envisioned that this prototype tool will be adapted to meet the requirements of different CI sectors and thereby provide additional capabilities.
Utilizing toxicogenomic data to understand chemical mechanism of action in risk assessment
Wilson, Vickie S.; Keshava, Nagalakshmi; Hester, Susan; Segal, Deborah; Chiu, Weihsueh; Thompson, Chad M.; Euling, Susan Y.
The predominant role of toxicogenomic data in risk assessment, thus far, has been one of augmentation of more traditional in vitro and in vivo toxicology data. This article focuses on the current available examples of instances where toxicogenomic data has been evaluated in human health risk assessment (e.g., acetochlor and arsenicals) which have been limited to the application of toxicogenomic data to inform mechanism of action. This article reviews the regulatory policy backdrop and highlights important efforts to ultimately achieve regulatory acceptance. A number of research efforts on specific chemicals that were designed for risk assessment purposes have employed mechanism or mode of action hypothesis testing and generating strategies. The strides made by large scale efforts to utilize toxicogenomic data in screening, testing, and risk assessment are also discussed. These efforts include both the refinement of methodologies for performing toxicogenomics studies and analysis of the resultant data sets. The current issues limiting the application of toxicogenomics to define mode or mechanism of action in risk assessment are discussed together with interrelated research needs. In summary, as chemical risk assessment moves away from a single mechanism of action approach toward a toxicity pathway-based paradigm, we envision that toxicogenomic data from multiple technologies (e.g., proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics, supportive RT-PCR studies) can be used in conjunction with one another to understand the complexities of multiple, and possibly interacting, pathways affected by chemicals which will impact human health risk assessment.
Developing guidelines for improved assessment of risk to environmental receptors in NEPA documents
Cunningham, M.; Abbott, L.; Berger, J.
NAEP`s NEPA Practice Committee has formed several subcommittees to develop guidelines, and ultimately standards, for conducting various analyses to meet the letter and spirit of NEPA. The authors comprise the Ecological Risk Assessment Subcommittee, and our purpose is to identify those aspects of ecological risk assessment of potentially greatest use in analyses for NEPA documents and to make this information available to NAEP members and other NEPA practioners. Our task is to identify procedures and techniques commonly used in ecological risk assessment for CERCLA and RCRA compliance that are useful directly, or in modified form, to improve the estimation of risk to environmental receptors in NEPA analyses. Environmental receptors include biota and media such as air and water. Our approach is to focus first on the practical aspects of environmental assessment for NEPA that we identify as needing improvement. These include: (1) knowing when a quantitative risk assessment is warranted; (2) assigning significance of potential harm; (3) how to assess cumulative risk; (4) how to cope with missing information and knowing when surrogate information is available and appropriate to use; (5) efficiency in analysis - lack of explicit screening steps; and (6) biodiversity-related effects assessment. Specific steps to help environmental professionals prepare NEPA documents to address these issues will be presented, including references to NEPA documents that employ explicit risk estimation.
Appendices and Risk Assessment Spreadsheet Version No. Fermi...
Broader source: All U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office Webpages (Extended Search)
The lead engineer will determine the degree of oversight you will need using a risk-based graded approach. On other occasions you will do design work as a member of a...
Model assessment of protective barriers: Part 4, Status of FY 1992 work
Fayer, M.J.
Protective barriers are being considered for use at the Hanford Site to enhance the isolation of radioactive wastes from water, plant, and animal intrusion. This study is part of an ongoing effort to assess the effectiveness of protective barriers for isolation of wastes from water. Part I of this study was the original modeling assessment by Pacific Northwest Laboratory of various protective barrier designs (e.g., soil type, vegetation). In Part 11 of this study, additional barrier designs were reviewed and several barrier modeling assumptions were tested. A test plan was then produced that detailed the requirement for hydrologic modeling of protective barriers. Part III of this study summarized the status of work in FY 1990 dealing with two-dimensional flow beneath the barrier and with validation testing using lysimeter data. This report (Part IV) addresses the application of a calibrated model to a much longer data set, the application of the calibrated model to a lysimeter that received a different treatment, and the effect of hysteresis on the behavior of water in the protective barrier.
An approach for integrating toxicogenomic data in risk assessment: The dibutyl phthalate case study
Euling, Susan Y.; Thompson, Chad M.; Chiu, Weihsueh A.; Benson, Robert
An approach for evaluating and integrating genomic data in chemical risk assessment was developed based on the lessons learned from performing a case study for the chemical dibutyl phthalate. A case study prototype approach was first developed in accordance with EPA guidance and recommendations of the scientific community. Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) was selected for the case study exercise. The scoping phase of the dibutyl phthalate case study was conducted by considering the available DBP genomic data, taken together with the entire data set, for whether they could inform various risk assessment aspects, such as toxicodynamics, toxicokinetics, and dose�response. A description of weighing the available dibutyl phthalate data set for utility in risk assessment provides an example for considering genomic data for future chemical assessments. As a result of conducting the scoping process, two questions�Do the DBP toxicogenomic data inform 1) the mechanisms or modes of action?, and 2) the interspecies differences in toxicodynamics?�were selected to focus the case study exercise. Principles of the general approach include considering the genomics data in conjunction with all other data to determine their ability to inform the various qualitative and/or quantitative aspects of risk assessment, and evaluating the relationship between the available genomic and toxicity outcome data with respect to study comparability and phenotypic anchoring. Based on experience from the DBP case study, recommendations and a general approach for integrating genomic data in chemical assessment were developed to advance the broader effort to utilize 21st century data in risk assessment. - Highlights: � Performed DBP case study for integrating genomic data in risk assessment � Present approach for considering genomic data in chemical risk assessment � Present recommendations for use of genomic data in chemical risk assessment.
Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Indexed Site
CoP) Charter | Department of Energy Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Charter Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Charter Charter for the Interagency Performance and Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) whose goal is to foster exchange of information regarding preparation of P&RAs across agencies and practitioners; enhance consistency in the preparation of P&RAs across the
Analytic concepts for assessing risk as applied to human space flight
Garrick, B.J.
Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) principles provide an effective framework for quantifying individual elements of risk, including the risk to astronauts and spacecraft of the radiation environment of space flight. The concept of QRA is based on a structured set of scenarios that could lead to different damage states initiated by either hardware failure, human error, or external events. In the context of a spacecraft risk assessment, radiation may be considered as an external event and analyzed in the same basic way as any other contributor to risk. It is possible to turn up the microscope on any particular contributor to risk and ask more detailed questions than might be necessary to simply assess safety. The methods of QRA allow for as much fine structure in the analysis as is desired. For the purpose of developing a basis for comprehensive risk management and considering the tendency to {open_quotes}fear anything nuclear,{close_quotes} radiation risk is a prime candidate for examination beyond that necessary to answer the basic question of risk. Thus, rather than considering only the customary damage states of fatalities or loss of a spacecraft, it is suggested that the full range of damage be analyzed to quantify radiation risk. Radiation dose levels in the form of a risk curve accomplish such a result. If the risk curve is the complementary cumulative distribution function, then it answers the extended question of what is the likelihood of receiving a specific dose of radiation or greater. Such results can be converted to specific health effects as desired. Knowing the full range of the radiation risk of a space mission and the contributors to that risk provides the information necessary to take risk management actions [operational, design, scheduling of missions around solar particle events (SPE), etc.] that clearly control radiation exposure.
Contents of risk assessments to support the retrieval and closure of tanks for the Washington State Department of Ecology
Before the Integrated Mission Acceleration Plan can be performed, risk assessments of various options must be performed for ORP, DOE Headquarters, and the Washington State Dept. of Ecology. This document focuses on the risk assessments for Ecology.
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incineration facility (East Liverpool, Ohio). Volume 1. Executive summary
Contents: Introduction and Summary of Results; Facility Background; Facility Emissions; Atmospheric Dispersion and Deposition Modeling of Emissions; Human Health Risk Assessment; Screening Ecological Risk Assessment; Accident Analysis; Additional Analysis in Response to Peer Review Recommendations; References.
A workshop on developing risk assessment methods for medical use of radioactive material. Volume 1: Summary
Tortorelli, J.P.
A workshop was held at the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, August 16--18, 1994 on the topic of risk assessment on medical devices that use radioactive isotopes. Its purpose was to review past efforts to develop a risk assessment methodology to evaluate these devices, and to develop a program plan and a scoping document for future methodology development. This report contains a summary of that workshop. Participants included experts in the fields of radiation oncology, medical physics, risk assessment, human-error analysis, and human factors. Staff from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) associated with the regulation of medical uses of radioactive materials and with research into risk-assessment methods participated in the workshop. The workshop participants concurred in NRC`s intended use of risk assessment as an important technology in the development of regulations for the medical use of radioactive material and encouraged the NRC to proceed rapidly with a pilot study. Specific recommendations are included in the executive summary and the body of this report. An appendix contains the 8 papers presented at the conference: NRC proposed policy statement on the use of probabilistic risk assessment methods in nuclear regulatory activities; NRC proposed agency-wide implementation plan for probabilistic risk assessment; Risk evaluation of high dose rate remote afterloading brachytherapy at a large research/teaching institution; The pros and cons of using human reliability analysis techniques to analyze misadministration events; Review of medical misadministration event summaries and comparison of human error modeling; Preliminary examples of the development of error influences and effects diagrams to analyze medical misadministration events; Brachytherapy risk assessment program plan; and Principles of brachytherapy quality assurance.
USDOE study: Human health and ecological risk assessment for produced water discharges
Meinhold, A.F.; Holtzman, S.; DePhillips, M.; Hamilton, L.D.
Produced water generated during the production of oil and gas can contain high concentrations of radionuclides, organics and heavy metals. There are concerns about potential human health and ecological impacts from the discharge of these contaminants to the Gulf of Mexico. Data collected in the United States Department of Energy (USDOE) field study are being used in a series of human health and ecological risk assessments. These assessments will support scientifically-based regulation and risk management. This presentation: summarizes risk assessments performed for produced water discharges; describes how uncertainties in these assessments are guiding data collection efforts in the USDOE field study; and outlines ongoing risk assessment studies. In these studies, risk assessment is treated as an iterative process. An initial screening-level assessment is performed to identify important contaminants, transport and exposure pathways, and parameters. These intermediate results are used to guide data collection efforts and refinements to the analysis. At this stage in the analysis, risk is described in terms of probabilities; the uncertainties in each measured or modeled parameter are considered explicitly.
List of Topics for Interagency Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Discussion
Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
List of Topics for Interagency Performance & Risk Assessment Community of Practice (P&RA CoP) Discussion
Risk assessment for the Waste Technologies Industries (WTI) hazardous waste incineration facility (East Liverpool, Ohio). Volume 2. Introduction
Contents: Overview; Facility Background; Risk Assessment History at WTI; Peer Review Comments and Key Assumptions; and References.
Novel Threat-risk Index Using Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Human Reliability Analysis - Final Report
George A. Beitel
In support of a national need to improve the current state-of-the-art in alerting decision makers to the risk of terrorist attack, a quantitative approach employing scientific and engineering concepts to develop a threat-risk index was undertaken at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). As a result of this effort, a set of models has been successfully integrated into a single comprehensive model known as Quantitative Threat-Risk Index Model (QTRIM), with the capability of computing a quantitative threat-risk index on a system level, as well as for the major components of the system. Such a threat-risk index could provide a quantitative variant or basis for either prioritizing security upgrades or updating the current qualitative national color-coded terrorist threat alert.
West Texas geothermal resource assessment. Part II. Preliminary utilization assessment of the Trans-Pecos geothermal resource. Final report
Gilliland, M.W.; Fenner, L.B.
The utilization potential of geothermal resources in Trans-Pecos, Texas was assessed. The potential for both direct use and electric power generation were examined. As with the resource assessment work, the focus was on the Hueco Tanks area in northeastern El Paso County and the Presidio Bolson area in Presidio County. Suitable users of the Hueco Tanks and Presidio Bolson resource areas were identified by matching postulated temperature characteristics of the geothermal resource to the need characteristics of existing users in each resource area. The amount of geothermal energy required and the amount of fossil fuel that geothermal energy would replace were calculated for each of the users identified as suitable. Current data indicate that temperatures in the Hueco Tanks resource area are not high enough for electric power generation, but in at least part of the Presidio Bolson resource area, they may be high enough for electric power generation.
Metal uptake by homegrown vegetables – The relative importance in human health risk assessments at contaminated sites
Augustsson, Anna L.M.; Uddh-Söderberg, Terese E.; Hogmalm, K. Johan; Filipsson, Monika E.M.
Risk assessments of contaminated land often involve the use of generic bioconcentration factors (BCFs), which express contaminant concentrations in edible plant parts as a function of the concentration in soil, in order to assess the risks associated with consumption of homegrown vegetables. This study aimed to quantify variability in BCFs and evaluate the implications of this variability for human exposure assessments, focusing on cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb) in lettuce and potatoes sampled around 22 contaminated glassworks sites. In addition, risks associated with measured Cd and Pb concentrations in soil and vegetable samples were characterized and a probabilistic exposure assessment was conducted to estimate the likelihood of local residents exceeding tolerable daily intakes. The results show that concentrations in vegetables were only moderately elevated despite high concentrations in soil, and most samples complied with applicable foodstuff legislation. Still, the daily intake of Cd (but not Pb) was assessed to exceed toxicological thresholds for about a fifth of the study population. Bioconcentration factors were found to vary more than indicated by previous studies, but decreasing BCFs with increasing metal concentrations in the soil can explain why the calculated exposure is only moderately affected by the choice of BCF value when generic soil guideline values are exceeded and the risk may be unacceptable. - Highlights: • Uptake of Cd and Pb by lettuce and potatoes increased with soil contamination. • Consumption of homegrown vegetables may lead to a daily Cd intake above TDIs. • The variability in the calculated BCFs is high when compared to previous studies. • Exposure assessments are most sensitive to the choice of BCFs at low contamination.
Risk Assessment Technical Expert Working Group (RWG)Conference Call Minutes, May 6, 2010
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
Risk Assessment Information Notice (IN): HSS provided the draft IN to safety basis experts fromSNL, Y-12 and PNNL for their review and comment. Their comments were addressed and the IN isback into...
Risk Assessment Technical Expert Working Group (RWG) Conference Call Minutes, March 8, 2010
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group Charter – The steeringcommittee discussed the draft charter. Two recommended changes were agreed upon:• A sentence will be added to identify that the...
Memorandum, Department of Energy Standard for Control and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessments
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
The purpose of this memorandum is to distribute for interim use and comment a new draft Department of Energy (DOE) Technical Standard for Control and Use of Probabilistic Risk Assessments.
Waste management health risk assessment: A case study of a solid waste landfill in South Italy
Davoli, E.; Fattore, E.; Paiano, V.; Colombo, A.; Palmiotto, M.; Rossi, A.N.; Il Grande, M.; Fanelli, R.
An integrated risk assessment study has been performed in an area within 5 km from a landfill that accepts non hazardous waste. The risk assessment was based on measured emissions and maximum chronic population exposure, for both children and adults, to contaminated air, some foods and soil. The toxic effects assessed were limited to the main known carcinogenic compounds emitted from landfills coming both from landfill gas torch combustion (e.g., dioxins, furans and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) and from diffusive emissions (vinyl chloride monomer, VCM). Risk assessment has been performed both for carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic effects. Results indicate that cancer and non-cancer effects risk (hazard index, HI) are largely below the values accepted from the main international agencies (e.g., WHO, US EPA) and national legislation ( and ).
Risk Assessment Technical Expert Working Group (RWG)Conference Call Minutes, February 20, 2010
Broader source: Energy.gov [DOE]
Risk Assessment Technical Experts Working Group Charter – discussed whoshould sign and at what level the charter should be authorized. It was concluded thatthe Under Secretaries as the Central...
Revisions to US EPA Superfund Risk and Dose Assessment Models and Guidance - 13403
Walker, Stuart A.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Superfund program's six Preliminary Remediation Goal (PRG) and Dose Compliance Concentration (DCC) internet based calculators for risk and dose assessment at Superfund sites are being revised to reflect better science, revisions to existing exposure scenarios and new scenarios, and changes to match up more closely with the EPA chemical regional screening level calculator. A revised version of the 1999 guidance document that provides an overview for the Superfund risk assessment process at radioactively contaminated sites, 'Radiation Risk Assessment At CERCLA Sites: Q and A', is being completed that will reflect Superfund recommended guidance and other technical documents issued over the past 13 years. EPA is also issuing a series of fact sheets in the document 'Superfund Radiation Risk Assessment: A Community Tool-kit'. This presentation would go over those changes that are expected to be finished by this spring. (authors)
Hanford Tank Farm interim storage phase probabilistic risk assessment outline
Not Available
This report is the second in a series examining the risks for the high level waste (HLW) storage facilities at the Hanford Site. The first phase of the HTF PSA effort addressed risks from Tank 101-SY, only. Tank 101-SY was selected as the initial focus of the PSA because of its propensity to periodically release (burp) a mixture of flammable and toxic gases. This report expands the evaluation of Tank 101-SY to all 177 storage tanks. The 177 tanks are arranged into 18 farms and contain the HLW accumulated over 50 years of weapons material production work. A centerpiece of the remediation activity is the effort toward developing a permanent method for disposing of the HLW tank`s highly radioactive contents. One approach to risk based prioritization is to perform a PSA for the whole HLW tank farm complex to identify the highest risk tanks so that remediation planners and managers will have a more rational basis for allocating limited funds to the more critical areas. Section 3 presents the qualitative identification of generic initiators that could threaten to produce releases from one or more tanks. In section 4 a detailed accident sequence model is developed for each initiating event group. Section 5 defines the release categories to which the scenarios are assigned in the accident sequence model and presents analyses of the airborne and liquid source terms resulting from different release scenarios. The conditional consequences measured by worker or public exposure to radionuclides or hazardous chemicals and economic costs of cleanup and repair are analyzed in section 6. The results from all the previous sections are integrated to produce unconditional risk curves in frequency of exceedance format.
Biosecurity Risk Assessment Methodology (BioRAM) v. 2.0
Energy Science and Technology Software Center (OSTI)
Sandia National Laboratories International Biological Threat Reduction Dept (SNL/IBTR) has an ongoing mission to enhance biosecurity assessment methodologies, tools, and guise. These will aid labs seeking to implement biosecurity as advocated in the recently released WHO's Biorisk Management: Lab Biosecurity Guidance. BioRAM 2.0 is the software tool developed initially using the SNL LDRD process and designed to complement the "Laboratory Biosecurity Risk Handbook" written by Ren Salerno and Jennifer Gaudioso defining biosecurity risk assessment methodologies.
Risk Informed Assessment of Regulatory and Design Requirements for Future Nuclear Power Plants - Final Technical Report
Ritterbusch, Stanley; Golay, Michael; Duran, Felicia; Galyean, William; Gupta, Abhinav; Dimitrijevic, Vesna; Malsch, Marty
OAK B188 Summary of methods proposed for risk informing the design and regulation of future nuclear power plants. All elements of the historical design and regulation process are preserved, but the methods proposed for new plants use probabilistic risk assessment methods as the primary decision making tool.
Neighborhood level health risk assessment of lead paint removal activities from elevated steel bridges
Conway, R.F.; Cohen, J.T.; Bowers, T.
The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) has adopted strict containment and monitoring procedures during paint removal activities on its bridges because of the increasing awareness about lead poisoning in children in urban environments and the potential risk of lead-based paint releases during those activities. NYCDOT owns nearly 800 bridges scattered throughout New York City. Before undertaking paint removal activities as part of its ongoing preventive maintenance and rehabilitation program, NYCDOT recently conducted an analysis to determine the public health risk posed to children living near them. The analysis the first of its kind to assess the actual public health risk potential during both routine operations and upset conditions, or accidental releases evaluated the total and incremental blood lead levels from paint removal activities on more than 5,000 children from 6 months to 6 years old. Increases in baseline blood lead levels were estimated using several models, including EPA's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) Model. This model estimates steady-state blood lead levels in children, reflecting exposure to lead in multiple media over an extended period of time. Increases in lead exposure from paint removal activities in the area surrounding the bridges was estimated using EPA's Industrial Source Complex (ISC3) model to calculate ambient air and deposition levels. Potential releases from the containment and ancillary equipment used in the paint removal process were modeled based on different release scenarios ranging from routine operations to complete failure of containment. To estimate the paint removal activities' contribution to long-term exterior dust lead levels (and its related interior component), a stochastic simulation model was developed for each block in the study area.
System Quality Risk Assessment: Applications and Lessons Learned
Gelston, Gariann M.; Smith, Michael A.; Schwartz, Deborah S.
News Releases Court Audits When does research become a verifiable product? When do the tools used to solve a problem become part of the research "system" and thus fall under the quality standard requirements? What should/is the system be used for? Research Typically Starts Small
Assessment of uncertainties in radiation-induced cancer risk predictions at clinically relevant doses
Nguyen, J.; Moteabbed, M.; Paganetti, H.
Purpose: Theoretical dose–response models offer the possibility to assess second cancer induction risks after external beam therapy. The parameters used in these models are determined with limited data from epidemiological studies. Risk estimations are thus associated with considerable uncertainties. This study aims at illustrating uncertainties when predicting the risk for organ-specific second cancers in the primary radiation field illustrated by choosing selected treatment plans for brain cancer patients. Methods: A widely used risk model was considered in this study. The uncertainties of the model parameters were estimated with reported data of second cancer incidences for various organs. Standard error propagation was then subsequently applied to assess the uncertainty in the risk model. Next, second cancer risks of five pediatric patients treated for cancer in the head and neck regions were calculated. For each case, treatment plans for proton and photon therapy were designed to estimate the uncertainties (a) in the lifetime attributable risk (LAR) for a given treatment modality and (b) when comparing risks of two different treatment modalities. Results: Uncertainties in excess of 100% of the risk were found for almost all organs considered. When applied to treatment plans, the calculated LAR values have uncertainties of the same magnitude. A comparison between cancer risks of different treatment modalities, however, does allow statistically significant conclusions. In the studied cases, the patient averaged LAR ratio of proton and photon treatments was 0.35, 0.56, and 0.59 for brain carcinoma, brain sarcoma, and bone sarcoma, respectively. Their corresponding uncertainties were estimated to be potentially below 5%, depending on uncertainties in dosimetry. Conclusions: The uncertainty in the dose–response curve in cancer risk models makes it currently impractical to predict the risk for an individual external beam treatment. On the other hand, the ratio
EPa`s program for risk assessment guidelines: Exposure issues
Callahan, M.A.
Three major issues to be dealt with over the next ten years in the exposure assessment field are: consistency in terminology, the impact of computer technology on the choice of data and modeling, and conceptual issues such as the use of time-weighted averages.
Risk Assessment Methodology Based on the NISTIR 7628 Guidelines
Abercrombie, Robert K; Sheldon, Frederick T; Hauser, Katie R; Lantz, Margaret W; Mili, Ali
Earlier work describes computational models of critical infrastructure that allow an analyst to estimate the security of a system in terms of the impact of loss per stakeholder resulting from security breakdowns. Here, we consider how to identify, monitor and estimate risk impact and probability for different smart grid stakeholders. Our constructive method leverages currently available standards and defined failure scenarios. We utilize the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Interagency or Internal Reports (NISTIR) 7628 as a basis to apply Cyberspace Security Econometrics system (CSES) for comparing design principles and courses of action in making security-related decisions.
Depleted uranium human health risk assessment, Jefferson Proving Ground, Indiana
Ebinger, M.H.; Hansen, W.R.
The risk to human health from fragments of depleted uranium (DU) at Jefferson Proving Ground (JPG) was estimated using two types of ecosystem pathway models. A steady-state, model of the JPG area was developed to examine the effects of DU in soils, water, and vegetation on deer that were hunted and consumed by humans. The RESRAD code was also used to estimate the effects of farming the impact area and consuming the products derived from the farm. The steady-state model showed that minimal doses to humans are expected from consumption of deer that inhabit the impact area. Median values for doses to humans range from about 1 mrem ({plus_minus}2.4) to 0.04 mrem ({plus_minus}0.13) and translate to less than 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}6} detriments (excess cancers) in the population. Monte Carlo simulation of the steady-state model was used to derive the probability distributions from which the median values were drawn. Sensitivity analyses of the steady-state model showed that the amount of DU in airborne dust and, therefore, the amount of DU on the vegetation surface, controlled the amount of DU ingested by deer and by humans. Human doses from the RESRAD estimates ranged from less than 1 mrem/y to about 6.5 mrem/y in a hunting scenario and subsistence fanning scenario, respectively. The human doses exceeded the 100 mrem/y dose limit when drinking water for the farming scenario was obtained from the on-site aquifer that was presumably contaminated with DU. The two farming scenarios were unrealistic land uses because the additional risk to humans due to unexploded ordnance in the impact area was not figured into the risk estimate. The doses estimated with RESRAD translated to less than 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}6} detriments to about 1 {times} 10{sup {minus}3} detriments. The higher risks were associated only with the farming scenario in which drinking water was obtained on-site.
Use of information resources by the state of Tennessee in risk assessment applications
Bashor, B.S.
The major resources used by the Bureau of Environment, and Environmental Epidemiology (EEP) for risk assessment are: the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), Health and Environmental Effects Summary Table (HEAST), Agency for Toxic Substances and disease Registry (ATSDR) Toxicological Profiles, databases at the National Library of Medicine (NLM), World Health Organization (WHO) ENvironmental Criteria, and documents that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has published on Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) risk assessment activities. The Risk Assessment Review has been helpful in providing information about availability of new documents or information. No systematic method has been made available to us to locate information resources. IRIS User`s Support has been helpful in making appropriate and timely referrals. Most other EPA resources were located by serendipity and persistence. The CERCLA methodology for risk assessments is being used in environmental programs, and at present, one person is responsible for all risk assessment activities in the department, but plans are underway to train one or two people from each program area. 2 figs.
Conclusions of the Capstone Depleted Uranium Aerosol Characterization and Risk Assessment Study
Parkhurst, MaryAnn; Guilmette, Raymond A.
The rationale for the Capstone Depleted Uranium (DU) Aerosol Characterization and Risk Assessment Program and its results and applications have been examined in the previous 13 articles of this special issue. This paper summarizes the results and discusses its successes and lessons learned. The robust data from the Capstone DU Aerosol Study have provided a sound basis for assessing the inhalation exposure to DU aerosols and the dose and risk to personnel in combat vehicles at the time of perforation and to those entering immediately after perforation. The Human Health Risk Assessment provided a technically sound process for evaluating chemical and radiological doses and risks from DU aerosol exposure using well-accepted biokinetic and dosimetric models innovatively applied. An independent review of the study process and results is summarized, and recommendations for possible avenues of future study by the authors and by other major reviews of DU health hazards are provided.
A pilot exercise on comparative risk assessment in Mexico
Cebrian, M.E.; Albores, A.; Sierra, A.
Concern in the Mexican government and academic institutions about human health problems derived from exposure to environmental contaminants has been increasing. This interest prompted us to perform a pilot study to identify and rank potentially problematic environmental situations. We were given access to files from the Instituto Nacional de Ecologia. We screened about 2,500 documents and selected about 200 reports for further analysis. We adapted methodologies developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA 1993) and ATSDR (1992) to analyze environmental data. San Luis Potosi City and Region Lagunera were the areas posing greater risks. We chose San Luis Potosi City to perform a more detailed study, since here a smelting complex is located within an urban zone. The high levels of As, Pb, and Cd in environmental media resulted in a higher body burden in exposed children than children living 7 km away. Multiple regression analysis suggested that alterations in sensorial nerve transmission were mainly related to As in urine (AsU), whereas those in motor nerves were mainly related to Pb in blood (PbB). No apparent relationships associated with CdU were found. Slower auditory nerve conduction was associated with both AsU and PbB. These findings suggest that exposed children are also at high risk of suffering other adverse health effects. This exercise illustrates the need to perform studies aimed at identifying and ranking environmental contamination problems in industrializing countries. 5 refs., 1 tab.
Environmental assessment for issuance of 10 CFR Parts 834 and 835
Not Available
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing that two rules for radiation protection be included in Title 10 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These proposed rule are 10 CFR Part 834, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment,'' and 10 CFR Part 835. Radiation Protection for Occupational Workers.'' Both would apply to normal operations at all DOE and DOE contractor facilities where ionizing radiation exposure could occur. The proposed rules are based on existing DOE Orders for radiation protection of workers, the public, and the environment. Proposed rule 10 CFR Part 834 essentially incorporates Order DOE 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment'' (DOE 1990a), which was issued on February 8, 1990. Proposed rule 10 CFR Part 835 incorporates DOE 5480.11, Radiation Protection for Occupational Workers'' (DOE 1988a), which was issued on December 21, 1988. The intent in codifying these Orders is to provide the DOE with regulations for protection of members of the public and radiation workers against ionizing radiation and to enhance enforcement of the requirements under the Price Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA 1988). The proposed rules are designed to preserve the radiation protection provisions of the DOE Orders. The purpose of this environmental assessment (EA) is to provide an analysis that can be used to determine whether the proposed action -- promulgation of proposed 10 CFR Part 834 and 10 CFR Part 835 -- significantly affects the quality of the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA 1969). This EA identifies alternatives to the proposed action and examines what impact each of the alternatives would have on environmental quality.
Environmental assessment for issuance of 10 CFR Parts 834 and 835
Not Available
The US Department of Energy (DOE) is proposing that two rules for radiation protection be included in Title 10 of the US Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). These proposed rule are 10 CFR Part 834, ``Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment,`` and 10 CFR Part 835. ``Radiation Protection for Occupational Workers.`` Both would apply to normal operations at all DOE and DOE contractor facilities where ionizing radiation exposure could occur. The proposed rules are based on existing DOE Orders for radiation protection of workers, the public, and the environment. Proposed rule 10 CFR Part 834 essentially incorporates Order DOE 5400.5, ``Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment`` (DOE 1990a), which was issued on February 8, 1990. Proposed rule 10 CFR Part 835 incorporates DOE 5480.11, ``Radiation Protection for Occupational Workers`` (DOE 1988a), which was issued on December 21, 1988. The intent in codifying these Orders is to provide the DOE with regulations for protection of members of the public and radiation workers against ionizing radiation and to enhance enforcement of the requirements under the Price Anderson Amendments Act (PAAA 1988). The proposed rules are designed to preserve the radiation protection provisions of the DOE Orders. The purpose of this environmental assessment (EA) is to provide an analysis that can be used to determine whether the proposed action -- promulgation of proposed 10 CFR Part 834 and 10 CFR Part 835 -- significantly affects the quality of the environment within the meaning of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA 1969). This EA identifies alternatives to the proposed action and examines what impact each of the alternatives would have on environmental quality.
How information resources are used by federal agencies in risk assessment application: Rapporteur summary
Fenner-Crisp, P.
The application of information available for risk assessment from the federal perspective is described. Different federal agencies conduct varying degrees of hazard evaluation, and some also generate empirical data. The role of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in hazard assessments of potential public health impacts of Superfund sites includes identification of the 275 most significant substances. ATSDR is responsible for preparing toxicological profiles. ATSDR also identifies data gaps and needs critical to adequately assessing human health impacts.
Taking Risk Assessment and Management to the Next Level: Program-Level Risk Analysis to Enable Solid Decision-Making on Priorities and Funding
Nelson, J. G.; Morton, R. L.; Castillo, C.; Dyer, G.; Johnson, N.; McSwain, J. T.
A multi-level (facility and programmatic) risk assessment was conducted for the facilities in the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) Readiness in Technical Base and Facilities (RTBF) Program and results were included in a new Risk Management Plan (RMP), which was incorporated into the fiscal year (FY) 2010 Integrated Plans. Risks, risk events, probability, consequence(s), and mitigation strategies were identified and captured, for most scope areas (i.e., risk categories) during the facilitated risk workshops. Risk mitigations (i.e., efforts in addition to existing controls) were identified during the facilitated risk workshops when the risk event was identified. Risk mitigation strategies fell into two broad categories: threats or opportunities. Improvement projects were identified and linked to specific risks they mitigate, making the connection of risk reduction through investments for the annual Site Execution Plan. Due to the amount of that was collected, analysis to be performed, and reports to be generated, a Risk Assessment/ Management Tool (RAMtool) database was developed to analyze the risks in real-time, at multiple levels, which reinforced the site-level risk management process and procedures. The RAMtool database was developed and designed to assist in the capturing and analysis of the key elements of risk: probability, consequence, and impact. The RAMtool calculates the facility-level and programmatic-level risk factors to enable a side-by-side comparison to see where the facility manager and program manager should focus their risk reduction efforts and funding. This enables them to make solid decisions on priorities and funding to maximize the risk reduction. A more active risk management process was developed where risks and opportunities are actively managed, monitored, and controlled by each facility more aggressively and frequently. risk owners have the responsibility and accountability to manage their assigned risk in real-time, using the
Waste management project's alternatives: A risk-based multi-criteria assessment (RBMCA) approach
Karmperis, Athanasios C.; Sotirchos, Anastasios; Aravossis, Konstantinos; Tatsiopoulos, Ilias P.
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We examine the evaluation of a waste management project's alternatives. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We present a novel risk-based multi-criteria assessment (RBMCA) approach. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer In the RBMCA the evaluation criteria are based on the quantitative risk analysis of the project's alternatives. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Correlation between the criteria weight values and the decision makers' risk preferences is examined. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Preference to the multi-criteria against the one-criterion evaluation process is discussed. - Abstract: This paper examines the evaluation of a waste management project's alternatives through a quantitative risk analysis. Cost benefit analysis is a widely used method, in which the investments are mainly assessed through the calculation of their evaluation indicators, namely benefit/cost (B/C) ratios, as well as the quantification of their financial, technical, environmental and social risks. Herein, a novel approach in the form of risk-based multi-criteria assessment (RBMCA) is introduced, which can be used by decision makers, in order to select the optimum alternative of a waste management project. Specifically, decision makers use multiple criteria, which are based on the cumulative probability distribution functions of the alternatives' B/C ratios. The RBMCA system is used for the evaluation of a waste incineration project's alternatives, where the correlation between the criteria weight values and the decision makers' risk preferences is analyzed and useful conclusions are discussed.