Assessing climate change adaptation strategies—the case of drought and heat wave in the French nuclear sector

Regional Environmental Change - Nuclear energy is a very important component of overall power supply in France. If the effects of future extreme weather events or climate shifts are not addressed,...     

Measuring site-level success in brownfield redevelopments: a focus on sustainability and green building

This research has met the following four objectives within the broader research topic of characterizing and quantifying success in brownfield revitalization: (1) to define 40 total indicators that define and determine the success of brownfield redevelopments in four categories: environment-health, finance, livability, and social-economic; (2) to use these indicators to develop a partially automated tool that stakeholders in brownfield redevelopment may use to more easily assess and communicate success (or failures) in these projects; (3) to integrate "green" building as an important aspect of successful brownfield redevelopments; and (4) to develop this tool within the framework of a specific multi-attribute decision method (MADM), the analytical hierarchical process (AHP). Future research should include the operationalization and application of this tool to specific sites. Currently, no such indicator framework or automated tool is known to exist or be in use. Indicators were chosen because of their ability to reduce data into comprehensible measurements and to systematically measure success in a standardized fashion. Appropriate indicators were selected based on (1) interviews with prominent private developers and national leaders in brownfield redevelopment, (2) a review of the relevant literature, (3) objective hierarchies created in this project, and (4) the ability for each indicator to serve goals in more than one of the four categories described above. These were combined to form the Sustainable Brownfields Redevelopment (SBR) Tool. A survey was conducted to serve as a preliminary assessment and proposed methodology for judging the validity of the SBR Tool. Professionals in the academic, private, and public sector were asked to provide an evaluation of the management tool and a weighting of the relative importance of each indicator and each of the four categories listed previously. Experts rated the tool at 7.68 out of 10 suggesting that this framework will be useful in evaluating these redevelopments upon completion and in formulating initial site plans and building design.     

The Use of a Multimedia Risk Analysis Approach in Designing Waste Management Strategies

ABSTRACT

A pollution source may release residuals to any of several environmental media, depending on the process design and control strategies. These residuals then are subject to transfer, transport, and transformation within the interconnected compartments of the environmental system. The exposure and susceptibility of people and other receptors to pollutants are different in these various media, and so the risks imposed will vary according to the fate of the pollutants in the system. Because of interactions between compartments in the system, a single-medium approach to environmental management that mitigates problems in one environmental medium at a time independently of risks through other media may not minimize the aggregate risk a receptor receives from all pathways. Alternatively, a multimedia approach advocates focusing on the full environmental system providing pathways for exposure and selecting risk management strategies based on minimization of the aggregate and cumulative risk from all pathways and all compounds. This study combines multimedia risk analysis and an optimization framework to examine a methodology for selecting waste treatment/disposal and pollution control measures, applies the methodology to a sludge management decision problem, and considers the implications for continued use of single-medium analyses.     

The biokinetics and dosimetry of radon-222 in the human body following ingestion of groundwater

This paper presents a general model for the biokinetics of Rn-222 in the adult human body following ingestion of the radon in water. Such a model is needed for the calculation of doses which would result from the ingestion of radon, a natural component of drinking water supplies. Information on the movement and concentration of xenon in the body was obtained from a separate study conducted at the Massachusetts General Hospital. This information was used to develop a model of radon kinetics in the body and estimates were obtained of the rate constants associated with transfer between the various body compartments. The model was then used to develop estimates of the dose equivalent delivered to each tissue or organ of the body following ingestion of 1 Bq of radon in water. From the reported results, it appears that the stomach receives a much larger dose equivalent than other organs and tissues, followed in order by the other segments of the gastro-intestinal or Gl tract, the liver, the lungs and the general body water compartment. A comparison is made between these doses and the doses delivered as a result of exposure to airborne radon.     

Predicting the occurrence of radon-222 in groundwater supplies

The intent of this study was to develop an understanding of some of the factors that affect the concentration ol radon-222 (²²²Rn) in drinking water supplies derived from groundwater, with specific application to North Carolina. Data for this investigation were collected on a sample of 96 North Carolina public water supply wells. Water samples were collected and analyzed for²²²Rn content. Data on site geology and well characteristics (discharge, specific capacity, depth, and casing length) were obtained from existing sources. From a statistical examination of the data collected in this study, we conclude that there is a distinct and statistically significant difference in the mean²²²Rn concentrations of groundwater associated with different types of rocks. The data, however, also indicate that there is a great degree of variability in the²²²Rn concentrations of samples drawn from any giver rock type. The situation is made slightly better by introducing a second variable given as the geologic region of a water supply. A fairly surprising finding of this study is the relative insignificance of discharge, specific capacity, depth, and casing length of wells as predictors of²²²Rn concentration. The present study indicates that use of these variables as predictors does not significantly improve the likelihood of locating water supplies with elevatec²²²Rn concentrations.     

The use of a multimedia risk analysis approach in designing waste management strategies

A pollution source may release residuals to any of several environmental media, depending on the process design and control strategies. These residuals then are subject to transfer, transport, and transformation within the interconnected compartments of the environmental system. The exposure and susceptibility of people and other receptors to pollutants are different in these various media, and so that risks imposed will vary according to the fate of the pollutants in the system. Because of interactions between compartments in the system, a single-medium approach to environmental management that mitigates problems in one environmental medium at a time independently of risk through other media may not minimize the aggregate risk a receptor receives from all pathways. Alternatively, a multimedia approach advocates focusing on the full environmental system providing pathways for exposure and selecting risk management strategies based on minimization of the aggregate and cumulative risk from all pathways and all compounds. This study combines multimedia risk analysis and an optimization framework to examine a methodology for selecting waste treatment/disposal and pollution control measures, applies the methodology to a sludge management decision problem, and considers the implications for continued use of single-medium analyses.