ON USING RESIDUAL RISK TO ASSESS THE COST-EFFECTIVENESS AND HEALTH PROTECTIVENESS OF REMEDY SELECTION AT SUPERFUND SITES

This article examines the importance of determining residual risk and its impact on remedy selection at Superfund Sites. Within this examina tion, risks are assessed using probabilistic models that incorporate t he uncertainty and variability of the input parameters, and utilize pa rameter distributions based on current and applicable site-specific da ta. Monte Carlo methods are used to propagate these uncertainties and variabilities through the risk calculations resulting in a distributio n for the estimate of both risk and residual risk. Such an approach pe rmits an informed decision based on a broad information base which inv olves considering the entire uncertainty distribution of risk rather t han a point estimate for each exposure scenario. Using the probabilist ic risk estimates, with current and applicable site-specific data, alt ernative decisions regarding cleanup are obtained for two Superfund Si tes. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited.