Communicating risks from the environmental management program of the United States Department of Energy

With the inception of the Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Management (EM) program, the need for better communication of the Department's environmental risks was highlighted. A number of database systems were used to describe the EM program's risk with limited success. Then in December 1997, the Assistant Secretary for Environmental Management charged the DOE operations and field offices and the Center for Risk Excellence (CRE) to work together to create 'Risk Profiles' or 'Risk Stories.' The purpose of the Profiles is to increase effective communication of risks at a national level for DOE sites by creating a common sense approach to describing risks. This paper describes the progress to date and looks at the plans for future activities. Abbreviations. BGRR: Brookhaven Graphite Research Reactor; CERCLA: Comprehensive Response, Compensation and Liability Act; CRE: Center for Risk Excellence; DOE: U.S. Department of Energy; EM: environmental management; ORNL: Oak Ridge National Laboratory; PBSs: Project Baseline Summaries; PtC: Paths to Closure; RDSs: Risk Data Sheets; RH: relative hazard; SRS CAB: Savannah River Site Citizens Advisory Board; VOCs: volatile organic compounds