May 1, 2003
Book Chapter

Status and Challenges of Managing Risks in the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Program

Abstract

Even in the United States, where various methods of risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication have been attempted over the years, these disciplines continue to evolve to meet the needs of decision makers faced with legacy wastes. This chapter provides an overview of the Cold War legacy challenges as currently understood by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), as well as the risk-based methodologies currently being applied to assist the DOE in managing those challenges. In the past decade (1990s), the DOE created a single organization within their waste management structure to coordinate their risk activities: the Office of Environmental Management’s Center for Risk Excellence. The chapter describes the formation, operation, and contributions of that organization, which was created to encourage the use of risk-based approaches to DOE site management and to provide consistency in the use of such approaches across the DOE complex. Of particular interest are the effective communication concepts developed by this organization for summarizing site risk and risk-related information as risk profiles.

Revised: April 24, 2007 | Published: May 1, 2003

Citation

Aaberg R.L., W.B. Andrews, M.E. Bollinger, W. McGinn, K. Picel, R.D. Stenner, and M.K. White, et al. 2003. Status and Challenges of Managing Risks in the U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Management Program. In Risk Methodologies for Technological Legacies, edited by James G. Droppo, Dennis Bley, Vitaly A. Eremenko. 59-74. Dordrecht:Kluwer Academic. PNNL-SA-38122.