Oil and gas wastewater as road treatment: radioactive material exposure implications at the residential lot and block scale

The resurgence of oil and gas extraction in the Appalachian Basin has resulted in an excess of oil and gas brines in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Primarily driven by unconventional development, this expansion has also impacted conventional wells and consequently, created economic pressure to develop effective and cheap disposal options. Using brine as a road treatment, directly or as a processed deicer, however, creates substantial concern that naturally occurring radioactive material in the brines can contaminate roads and road-side areas. Current decision making is based on risk exposure scenarios developed by regulatory agencies based on recreational users in rural areas and exposures to drivers during a typical commute. These scenarios are not appropriate for evaluating exposures to residential deicer users or people living near treated streets. More appropriate exposure scenarios were developed in this work and exposures predicted with these models based on laboratory measurements and literature data. Exposure scenarios currently used for regulatory assessment of brine road treatment result in predicted exposures of 0.4-0.6 mrem/year. Residential exposures predicted by the scenarios developed in this work are 4.6 mrem/year. If the maximum range of near-road soil radium concentrations observed in the region is used in this residential scenario (60 pCi/g 226Ra, 50 pCi/g 228Ra), residents living near these roads would be exposed to an estimated 296 mrems/year, above regulatory exposure thresholds used in nuclear facility siting assessments. These results underline the urgent need to clarify exposure risks from the use of oil and gas brines as a road treatment, particularly given the existing disparities in the distribution of road impacts across socioeconomic status.

High level radioactive waste and communities' risk perceptions: a case study of an on-going voluntary siting

This study examined an on-going case study of communities that have been involved in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization‟s nuclear facility siting process. Interviews were conducted to examine whether communities no longer participating had higher perceptions of risk relative to communities that are still participating. In addition, this study examined the influence of other factors on communities to stay in the process or stop participating. Moreover, this study evaluated whether the siting process is consistent with the siting principles of a cooperative model. Results showed that eliminated communities had slightly higher risk perceptions compared to communities that are still participating. On the other hand, opted out communities had lower risk perceptions. It also showed that perceived potential benefits are the main factor controlling the communities‟ decisions at this stage. In addition, the siting process is not perfectly consistent with, but similar to a collaborative planning model at this stage.

High level radioactive waste and communities' risk perceptions: a case study of an on-going voluntary siting

This study examined an on-going case study of communities that have been involved in the Nuclear Waste Management Organization‟s nuclear facility siting process. Interviews were conducted to examine whether communities no longer participating had higher perceptions of risk relative to communities that are still participating. In addition, this study examined the influence of other factors on communities to stay in the process or stop participating. Moreover, this study evaluated whether the siting process is consistent with the siting principles of a cooperative model. Results showed that eliminated communities had slightly higher risk perceptions compared to communities that are still participating. On the other hand, opted out communities had lower risk perceptions. It also showed that perceived potential benefits are the main factor controlling the communities‟ decisions at this stage. In addition, the siting process is not perfectly consistent with, but similar to a collaborative planning model at this stage.

Compensation in hazardous facility siting : ban analysis of compensatory agreements

Although theoretically the voluntary site strategy has been commended for its success at solving local community problems, there has been a small number of siting successes actually achieved. This study investigates the approach of negotiated compensation and reward in the collaborative process under which willing individuals can come to an agreement concerning the siting of a noxious facility. Elaborating upon Kuhn and Ballard's (1998) optimistic conclusions regarding the progress of facility siting approaches in North America, the study investigated the true nature of collaborative theory in a case analysis of environmentally hazardous facility projects. The result suggest the compensation is an effective tool in the siting process. The analysis indicates that there has been an evolution in the nature of community agreements over the last ten years into more sophisticated allocations of benefits and burdens. The study also concludes that direct costs allocated by proponents for the purpose of compensation remain low and relatively small when compare to the estimated initial capital of the projects.

Compensation in hazardous facility siting : ban analysis of compensatory agreements

Although theoretically the voluntary site strategy has been commended for its success at solving local community problems, there has been a small number of siting successes actually achieved. This study investigates the approach of negotiated compensation and reward in the collaborative process under which willing individuals can come to an agreement concerning the siting of a noxious facility. Elaborating upon Kuhn and Ballard's (1998) optimistic conclusions regarding the progress of facility siting approaches in North America, the study investigated the true nature of collaborative theory in a case analysis of environmentally hazardous facility projects. The result suggest the compensation is an effective tool in the siting process. The analysis indicates that there has been an evolution in the nature of community agreements over the last ten years into more sophisticated allocations of benefits and burdens. The study also concludes that direct costs allocated by proponents for the purpose of compensation remain low and relatively small when compare to the estimated initial capital of the projects.

Optimizing facility siting for probabilistic collection and distribution of information in support of urban transportation

Collecting and receiving information about the state of a transportation system is essential to effective planning for intelligent transportation systems, whether it be on the part of individual users or managers of the system. However, efforts to collect or convey information about a system’s status often require considerable investment in infrastructure/technology. Moreover, given variations in the development and use of transportation systems over time, uncertainties exist as to where and when demand for such services may be needed. To address these problems, a model for minimizing the cost of siting and/or collecting information while ensuring specified levels of demand are served at an acceptable level of reliability is proposed. To demonstrate the characteristics of the proposed formulation, it is coupled with another planning objective and applied to identify optimal sites for information provision/collection in a transportation system. Model solutions are then derived for multiple scenarios of system flow to explore how variations in the use of a transportation system can impact siting configurations.