Division of Life Sciences, 604 Allison Road, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; Consortium for Risk Evaluation with Stakeholder Participation, Vanderbilt University and Rutgers University, USA.
Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA; Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Environ Res. 2019 Mar;170:452-462. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.12.052. Epub 2018 Dec 21.
The U.S. and other developed nations are faced with many contaminated sites remaining from World War II, the Cold War, and abandoned industries, that require remediation and restoration to allow future land uses with minimum acceptable risk to humans and ecological resources. For large Department of Energy (DOE) sites with massive remediation tasks remaining, it is important for managers to be able to assure regulators, Tribal Nations, and the public that human and ecological health are protected. Hanford Site has the largest and most expensive cleanup task within the DOE complex; cleanup will continue beyond 2090. Cleanup involves the use of operating facilities, which also may present a risk to humans or ecological resources. We present a brief description of a methodology to evaluate risks to ecological receptors at the Hanford Site from remaining remediation tasks, and evaluate the risk to ecological resources that operating facilities present currently, during active cleanup of these facilities, and during the post cleanup period. Operating facilities include current, active operations that are located on the site and aid in site cleanup, including both storage and treatment operations. At the Hanford Site, they include waste treatment plants, sludge basins, waste trenches, Central Waste Complex, storage facilities, and disposal facilities, among others. Risk ratings for ecological resources are highest during the remediation phase. Risk ratings for the operating facilities at the Hanford Site range from not discernible to medium currently, from not discernible (ND) to high during active cleanup, and from not discernible to medium following cleanup. The highest ratings are for the Waste Treatment and Immobilization Plant that is being constructed to stabilize radioactive and chemical wastes, and the Liquid Effluent Retention and Treatment Facility that removes and deactivates hazardous contaminants from waste water. Higher ratings in the post-cleanup period are largely due to restoration of ecological resources during cleanup, which increases the potential for injury (if these resources are harmed) because a site will then have higher quality resources after cleanup than it did before. Assessing the value of ecological resources, and determining potential consequences during active remediation and after remediation is essential for compliance with state and federal laws. Understanding the risks to ecological resources from now until clean-up is completed at these facilities is important because of the potential for ecological resources of high value to be degraded, and because cleanup completion is not expected until 2090 or later. The methodology can be applied to any contaminated site requiring a rapid method of assessing potential damages to ecological resources from proposed management actions.
美国和其他发达国家面临着许多二战、冷战和废弃工业遗留下来的污染场地，这些场地需要进行修复和恢复，以便在未来的土地利用中，以人类和生态资源可接受的最小风险进行。对于仍有大量修复任务的大型能源部（DOE）场地，管理者必须能够向监管机构、部落国家和公众保证人类和生态健康得到保护。汉福德场址是 DOE 建筑群中最大、最昂贵的清理任务，清理工作将持续到 2090 年以后。清理工作涉及使用运营设施，这些设施也可能对人类或生态资源构成风险。我们简要介绍了一种方法，用于评估汉福德场址剩余修复任务对生态受体的风险，并评估运营设施目前、在这些设施的积极清理期间以及清理后期间对生态资源的风险。运营设施包括位于现场并有助于现场清理的当前活跃作业，包括存储和处理作业。在汉福德场址，它们包括废物处理厂、污泥池、废物沟、中央废物综合体、储存设施和处置设施等。在修复阶段，生态资源的风险评级最高。目前，汉福德场址运营设施的风险评级为不可察觉到中等，在积极清理期间为不可察觉到高，清理后为不可察觉到中等。评级最高的是正在建造的废物处理和固化厂，用于稳定放射性和化学废物，以及液体流出物保留和处理设施，用于从废水去除和失活危险污染物。清理后时期的评级较高主要是由于清理期间生态资源的恢复，这增加了受伤的可能性（如果这些资源受到损害），因为清理后场地的资源质量将高于清理前。评估生态资源的价值，并确定在积极修复和修复后期间的潜在后果，对于遵守州和联邦法律至关重要。了解这些设施中从现在到清理完成期间对生态资源的风险很重要，因为高价值的生态资源可能会退化，而且预计清理工作要到 2090 年或以后才能完成。该方法可应用于任何需要快速评估拟议管理行动对生态资源潜在损害的污染场地。
