Regulatory assessment of risk to the environment: Radiation

'Health, Safety and Environment' is a familiar catchphrase in today's government departments, universities and industry. This catchphrase is most often associated with terms such as 'risk assessment', 'risk management' and 'hazard identification'. Such grouping demonstrates the underlying assumption that 'risk(s)' to the environment can be dealt with, and are being dealt with, using the same processes as those used for evaluating health and safety risks. This equally applies when the hazard is radiation. Management of risk to the environment is often carried out within a framework of an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) incorporating Risk Assessment (RA) processes. Environmental Management Systems (EMS) and Risk Management Systems (RMS) also provide frameworks which incorporate RA processes. These systems are often integrated with existing quality and safety systems. The steps in these frameworks have been explained and comparisons have been drawn of how an EIA process and Environmental Management System compare with Environmental Risk Management processes. These comparisons demonstrate the common elements of each framework. The Australian Standard for Risk Management (AS/NZS 4360:1999) describes the risk management process in terms of establishing a risk context, identification, analysis, evaluation and treatment of risks. The application of risk management procedures as described in the Australian Standard for Risk Management have been discussed in relation to how they might apply to a simple case scenario of a historical landfill containing radioactive waste. (author)