Analysis of the Risk Prioritization Process Employed by the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site. S. Erdal, B. R. Friedlander, B. D. Goldstein, and C. W. Powers, Rutgers University and RWJ-Medical School
Consortium for Risk Evaluation for Stakeholder Participation (CRESP) was asked by DOE to independently review the Savannah River Site’s Risk Prioritization Process (RPP). The Savannah RPP consists of two major components: a Risk Value Matrix (RVM) and an Integrated Priority List (ILP). The RVM weights and quantitatively evaluates nine criteria, using a two-dimensional geometric-scale scoring system. The criteria include Public Health and Safety, Worker Health and Safety, Safeguards and Security, Public and Community Relations, Cost Effectiveness, and Mission Viability. The IPL incorporates further considerations of efficiency and management judgement into the process and arrives at the final funding priorities for Environmental Management at the Site. The IPL review focused on such issues as: 1) credibility, usefulness, effectiveness, and rationality of the process; 2) its limitations, advantages and disadvantages; and 3) recommendations for improvement. We quantitatively analyzed the assigned scores in the RVM database. Our preliminary analysis indicates the Public Health, Worker Health, Safety and Environmental Protection - the cornerstones of health risk characterization - received lower scores and priority. In contrast, the categories related to business risk, e.g., Business Efficiency and Cost Effectiveness ranked the highest. We proposed a number of steps to reform the IPL process, including life cycle analysis, chronic risk considerations, longer time scales for assessing budget impacts, enhanced synchronization with regulators, and improved focus on metrics of risk reduction of environmental problems.
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