Academic literature on the topic 'Other environmental management not elsewhere classified'

In this era of startling developments in the medical field there remains a serious worry about the hazardous potential of various by products which if not properly addressed can lead to consequences of immense public concern. Hospitals and other health care facilities generate waste products which are evidently hazardous to all those exposed to its potentially harmful effects. Need for effective legislation ensuring its safe disposal is supposed to be an integral part of any country's health related policy. This issue is of special importance in developing countries like Pakistan which in spite of framing various regulations for safeguarding public health, seem to overlook its actual implementation. The result unfortunately is the price wehave to pay not only in terms of rampant spread of crippling infections but a significant spending of health budget on combating epidemics which could easily have been avoided through effective waste disposal measures in the first place. Waste classified under the heading 'bio-hazardous' includes any infectious or potentially infectious material which can be injurious or harmful to humans and other living organisms. Amongst the many potential sources are the hospitals or other health delivery centres which are ironically supposed to be the centres of infection control and treatment. Whilst working in these setups, health care workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedical staff and sanitation workers are actually the ones most exposed and vulnerable to these challenges. Biomedical waste may broadly be classified into Infectious and toxic waste. Infectious waste includes sharps, blood, body fluids and tissues etcwhile substances such as radioactive material and by-products of certain drugs qualify as toxic waste. Furthermore health institutions also have to cater for general municipal waste such as carton boxes, paper and plastics. The World Health Organisation has its own general classification of hospital waste divided into almost eight categories of which almost 15% (10% infectious and 5% toxic) is estimated to be of a hazardous nature while the remaining 85% is general non hazardous content.1A recent study from Faisalabad, Pakistan has estimated hospital waste generation around 1 to 1.5 kg / bed /day for public sector hospitals in the region,2while figures quoted from neighbouring India are approximately 0.5 to 2 KG / hospital bed /day.3 Elsewhere in the world variable daily hospital waste production has been observed ranging from as low as 0.14 to 0.49 kg /day in Korea4 and 0.26 to 0.89 kg/day in Greece5to as high as 2.1 to 3.83 kg/day in Turkey6 and 0.84 to 5.8 kg/day in Tanzania.7Ill effects of improper management of hospital waste can manifest as nosocomial infections or occupational hazards such as needle stick injuries. Pathogens or spores can be borne either through the oro-faecal or respiratory routes in addition to direct inoculation through contact with infected needles or sharps. Environmental pollution can result from improper burning of toxic material leading to emission of dioxins, particulate matter or furans into the air. The habitat can also be affected by illegal dumping and landfills or washing up of medical waste released into the sea or river. Potential organisms implicated in diseases secondary to mismanagement of hospital waste disposal include salmonella, cholera, shigella, helminths, strep pneumonia, measles, tuberculosis, herpesvirus, anthrax, meningitis, HIV, hepatitis and candida etc. These infections can cause a considerable strain on the overall health and finances of the community or individuals affected. The basic principal of Public health management i.e 'prevention is better than cure' cannot be more stressed in this scenario as compared to any other health challenge. Health facilities must have a clear policy on hazardous waste management. To ensure a safe environment hospitals need to adopt and implement international and local systems of waste disposal. Hospital waste management plan entails policy and procedures addressing waste generation, accumulation, handling, transportation, storage, treatment and disposal. Waste needs to be collected in marked containers usually colour coded and leak proof. Segregation at source is of vital importance. The standard practice in many countries is the Basic Three Bin System ie to segregate the waste into RED bags/ boxes for sharps, YELLOW bags for biological waste and BLUE or BLACK ones for general/ municipal waste. All hospital staff needs to be trained in the concept of putting the right waste in relevant containers/ bags. They need to know that more than anything else this practice is vital for their own safety. The message can be reinforced through appropriate labelling on the bins and having posters with simple delineations to avoid mixing of different waste types. Sharps essentially should be kept in rigid, leak and puncture-resistant containers which are tightly lidded and labelled. Regular training sessions for nurses and cleaning staff can be organised as they are the personnel who are more likely to deal with waste disposition at the level of their respective departments. Next of course is transportation of waste products to the storage or disposal. Sanitary staff and janitors must be aware of the basic concepts of waste handling and should wear protective clothing, masks and gloves etc, besides ensuring regular practice of disinfection and sterilization techniques.8Special trolleys or vehicles exclusively designed and reserved for biomedical waste and operated by trained individuals should be used for transportation to the dumping or treatment site. Biomedical waste treatment whether on site or off site is a specialised entity involving use of chemicals and equipment intended for curtailing the hazardous potential of the material at hand. Thermal treatment via incinerators, not only results in combustion of organic substances but the final product in the form of non-toxicash is only 10 to 15% of the original solid mass of waste material fed to the machine. Dedicated autoclaves and microwaves can also be used for the purpose of disinfection. Chemicals such as bleach, sodium hydroxides, chlorine dioxide and sodiumhypochlorite are also effective disinfectants having specialised indications. Countries around the world have their own regulations for waste management. United Kingdom practices strict observance of Environmental protection act 1990, Waste managementlicensing regulations 1994 and Hazardous waste regulations 2005 making it one of thesafest countries in terms of hazardous waste disposal. Similar regulations specific for each state have been adopted in United States following passage of the Medical Waste tracking act 1988. In Pakistan, every hospital must comply with the Waste Management Rules 2005 (Environment Protection Act 1997), though actual compliance is far from satisfactory. It is high time that the government and responsible community organisations shape up to seriously tackle the issue of bio hazardous waste management through enforcement of effective policies and standard operating procedures for safeguarding the health and lives of the public in general and health workers in particular.

Abstract“Precision agriculture” was a favorite buzzword in agricultural discussions in the 1990s. Proponents of precision agriculture note its promises are twofold: economic benefits for the producer and environmental benefits for society. These benefits are to be achieved by improving the efficiency of input use, based on data obtained with global positioning systems (GPS) and geographic information systems (GIS) technologies. Although fulfillment of these promises has been mixed to date, it appears that “precision agriculture” will continue in the agriculture vernacular into the 21st century. In this article, we propose another sense of the term, and argue that precision agriculture, or at least long strides in that direction, is possible short of these highly complex methods and capital investments, through integrated crop management (ICM). As practiced by the producer and/or provided by independent crop consultants, ICM is one alternative to providing information-intensive management on the farm, and has proven efficiency of input use. That is, the promise of economic and environmental benefits holds true in a manner that makes it possible for any producer to implement “precision agriculture.” Using data from users and nonusers of independent crop consultants implementing ICM, this study reveals that several economic and environmental benefits are gained from the information and management recommendations provided by consultants. Pest and nutrient management recommendations have led to decreases in pesticide and commercial fertilizer use. For the majority of users, these input reductions have resulted in an increase in profits since hiring a consultant. Users attributed changes in total cost of production to their consultant's effectiveness, and some reported receiving double or greater return for every dollar invested in consultant services. The results confirm the important role that Iowa's independent crop consultants could play in agricultural production and environmental protection through their promotion of ICM activities. However, the scarcity of consultants in Iowa, and possibly elsewhere, presents a challenge within the industry. Addressing this issue may help in contributing to rural development, economic benefit for the producer, and environmental benefit for all of society.

Projects transforming the concept of eco-city into practices became a challenge to the Eastern countries to countermeasure with the global warming and climate change. We can be witnesses of rising number of significant eco-city models than might be a real fine model to other countries and cities that would like to change their current environmental situation. In particular Japan Government launched “Eco-model cities” program in 2008, to create model cities replicable elsewhere both in Japan and in the world.

Increasingly extended and alternative methods for urban stormwater management have been discussed in Germany and elsewhere. Without question an economically and ecologically sound combination of central and decentral measures will be a concept of the future. Yet, at present the introduction of approaches other than traditional combined sewer systems is restricted due to missing planning tools and technologies. Adding a number of frequently used Best Stormwater Management Practices (BSMP's) has widely extended the applicability of an existing stormwater water balance and pollution load model.

Forest fuel production is a growing industry in Canada and elsewhere, as governments strive to increase energy security and find alternatives to the use of fossil fuels. While forest bioenergy can provide environmental benefits such as renewability and carbon emissions reductions, the industry can also pose environmental risks through increasing pressure on forest resources. Because large-scale forest bioenergy production is relatively new to Canada, much is still unknown about how such an industry might evolve and impact forest ecosystems. These unknowns, along with the cross-sectoral, multistakeholder nature of the industry, make planning for sustainable forest bioenergy systems quite challenging. In this paper, we introduce some of the challenges to creating sustainable systems, and we discuss how sustainable forest management frameworks like Adaptive Forest Management and Sustainable Forest Management Certification can help to meet these challenges. We also discuss the importance of technology transfer to ensuring that the best available knowledge forms the basis for effective standards and management plans. Sustainable forest management frameworks can help to organize, distil and communicate the growing body of research on forest bioenergy production, link policy to practice through the creation of standards, and incorporate provisions for continual learning and system adaptation, all of which are key to the long-term sustainability of the rapidly evolving forest bioenergy sector. Key words: bioenergy, sustainable forest management frameworks, adaptive forest management, certification, standards, technology transfer

The European Union is taking several policy initiatives to combat climate change and the loss of biodiversity with direct impact on agriculture. For farmers the European Commission is promoting an instrument called OECM, Other effective area-based conservation measures. Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) are a new conservation approach, separate from protected areas, where conservation is achieved mainly as a by-product of other management. OECMs can be counted towards the EU target if: i) Conservation objectives and measures are in place; ii) the area is covered by a national or international legal or administrative act or a contractual arrangement achieving long-term conservation outcomes and iii) effective management and monitoring of the biodiversity in the area is in place. A new growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy where there are no net emissions of greenhouse gases in 2050 and where economic growth is decoupled from resource use. While those initiatives mainly impact the life and work of European farmers, there is as well an indirect impact to farmers elsewhere in the world

A LCC Analysis of Rainwater Management VariantsThe paper presents results of the Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis carried out for several variants of rainfall water management in a newly designed multi-family dwelling house. According to the LCC methodology, calculations were performed for the whole undertaking life cycle with both investment outlays and operation/maintenance costs taken into account. The LCC analysis was carried out, in particular, for a variant assuming that the rainwater collected from the roof will be entirely discharged to the sewage system. On the other hand, the second variant provided for replacement of traditional building roof with a green one. Facilities of that type, thanks to their retention properties, may delay runoff of rainwater and reduce the overall quantity of water discharged from roof surface and therefore can be classified as Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems. In the third case considered, rainwater is to be utilised in the building. It was assumed that precipitation water will be stored in a tank and used in the sanitary water supply system for flushing toilets, thus reducing the overall tap water purchase costs.

Purpose – The primary aim of this study was to better understand the grounds to develop a monitoring and performance measurement method to support the environmental management of construction operations. The practical purpose was to improve environmental activities in construction sites. This study helps to fill the gap between environmental needs and practices on construction sites. Design/methodology/approach – Action research was the principal research method. The research procedure was executed in collaboration with construction companies. The EICS meter was originally developed to create rules for environmental competition between construction sites. Since the time of this competition, the meter has been further improved in other studies. Findings – Based on the literature and feedback gained in the testing round of the EICS, five relevant categories were formulated to evaluate environmental operations: environmental information management, waste management, material handling and shielding, energy use and emissions. A simple index method was applied for these five categories. Furthermore, observation targets and acceptance criteria were defined for these categories. The meter supports environmental management in practise. The method can be used to analyse the starting point level when developing environmental processes. Originality/value – This study offers insights based on action research for both academics and practitioners. The meter is outlined for Nordic conditions, but the structure of the method is also suitable elsewhere. The national demands can be locally fine-tuned.

The submerged evergreen aquatic plant Myriophyllum heterophyllum is among the worst invasive species in Europe, causing severe problems especially in navigation channels but also lentic systems. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview and update on the current distribution and risks associated with this species in Europe and elsewhere. We provide an evaluation of current identification keys since misidentification can underestimate the extent of its spread. In addition, hybridization with other milfoil species has been reported in North America but seems unlikely in Europe. We further describe in detail the ecology, specifically resource requirements and biotic interactions with other plants, herbivores and pathogens as well as the spread potential of the species. Good knowledge of the autecology and synecology of this species should allow some conclusions about environmental factors possibly related to its invasive growth and is mandatory for the preparation of species-specific management measures. Finally, we outline the status of regulations coming into effect in member states of the European Union (EU) and provide an overview of applied and potential management practices.

Environmental risk assessment is becoming an increasingly important factor in the assessment process for new projects. The oil and gas industry is familiar with assessing and managing risks from a wide range of sources. In particular, risk assessment and management is fundamental to the evaluation and implementation of Safety cases. Risk assessment is essential in valuing exploration acreage. Various industry and government risk management standards and criteria have been developed for public and occupational health and safety.This paper examines the extension of these approaches to environmental risk management for the offshore oil and gas industry and proposes a conceptual management scheme.We regard risk as the probability of an event occurring and the consequences of that event. The risk is classified into four categories, namely:primary risk, which relates to the mechanical oilfield equipment;secondary risk, which relates to the natural transport processes. For example dispersion of oil in the water column and surrounding sea;the tertiary risk, which relates to the impact on some defined part of the physical, biological or social environment; andthe quaternary risk, which relates to the recovery of the environment from any impact.Generally the methods of quantitatively analysing primary and secondary risks are well known, while there remains considerable uncertainty surrounding the tertiary and quaternary risk and they are at best qualitative only. An example of the method is applied to coral reef and other sensitive areas which may be at risk from oil spills.This risk management scheme should assist both operators and regulators in considering complex environmental problems which have an inherent uncertainty. It also proves a systematic approach on which sound environmental decisions can be taken and further research and analysis based. Perceived risk is recognised, but the management of this particular issue is not dealt with.

Ecology, Engineering, and the Paradox of Management is the first book that addresses and reconciles what many take to be the core paradox facing environmental decision-makers and stakeholders: How do they restore the environment while at the same time provide ever more services reliably from that environment, including clean air, water and energy for more and more people? The book provides a conceptual framework, empirical case analyses, and organizational proposals to resolve the paradox, be it in the US, Europe, or elsewhere. Thus, Ecology, Engineering, and the Paradox of Management has multiple audiences. First are the key professions involved in the protection and improvement of ecosystems and in the provision and delivery of services from those ecosystems. These include ecologists (and other natural scientists such as conservation biologists, climatologists, forest scientists, and toxicologists), engineers (as well as hydrologists, environmental engineers, civil engineers, and line operators), modeling and gaming experts, managers, planners, and power, agriculture, and recreation communities. Another audience includes university researchers in ecology, conservation biology, engineering, the policy sciences, and resource management. Those interested in interdisciplinary approaches in these fields will also find the book especially helpful. Finally, those interested in the Everglades, the Columbia River Basin, San Francisco Bay-Delta, and the Green Heart of western Netherlands will find new insights here, as the book provides a detailed examination of the paradox in each of these cases.

There is no question that the timber industry needs to adopt sustainable practices that ensure a future for the industry. This book goes well beyond simply growing commercial tree plantations for wood production. It explores new forests that can supply environmental services such as salinity mitigation and carbon sequestration together with commercial wood production in an environment beyond the boundaries of traditional forestry. New Forests targets agricultural landscapes affected by salinity and which generally have rainfall less than 650 mm per year. The book addresses vital issues such as where tree planting might best be pursued, what species and technologies should be used for establishment and later management, how productivity can be improved, what mix of environmental services and commercial goods is optimum, and whether the likely net benefits justify the change in land use and requisite investment. While the book is focussed on the low-rainfall, agricultural, inland zone of the Murray-Darling Basin wherever possible the scope of most chapters has been expanded to synthesise generic information applicable to other regions in Australia and elsewhere. The authors provide a comprehensive account of all the issues relevant to the development of these new forests, covering soils, the bio-physical environment, water use and irrigation strategies - including the use of wastewater, silviculture, pests and diseases, wood quality and products, and economics and policy implications.

Adaptive governance is defined by a focus on decentralized decision-making structures and procedurally rational policy, supported by intensive natural and social science. Decentralized decision-making structures allow a large, complex problem like global climate change to be factored into many smaller problems, each more tractable for policy and scientific purposes. Many smaller problems can be addressed separately and concurrently by smaller communities. Procedurally rational policy in each community is an adaptation to profound uncertainties, inherent in complex systems and cognitive constraints, that limit predictability. Hence planning to meet projected targets and timetables is secondary to continuing appraisal of incremental steps toward long-term goals: What has and hasn’t worked compared to a historical baseline, and why? Each step in such trial-and-error processes depends on politics to balance, if not integrate, the interests of multiple participants to advance their common interest—the point of governance in a free society. Intensive science recognizes that each community is unique because the interests, interactions, and environmental responses of its participants are multiple and coevolve. Hence, inquiry focuses on case studies of particular contexts considered comprehensively and in some detail.Varieties of adaptive governance emerged in response to the limitations of scientific management, the dominant pattern of governance in the 20th century. In scientific management, central authorities sought technically rational policies supported by predictive science to rise above politics and thereby realize policy goals more efficiently from the top down. This approach was manifest in the framing of climate change as an “irreducibly global” problem in the years around 1990. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established to assess science for the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The parties negotiated the Kyoto Protocol that attempted to prescribe legally binding targets and timetables for national reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. But progress under the protocol fell far short of realizing the ultimate objective in Article 1 of the UNFCCC, “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference in the climate system.” As concentrations continued to increase, the COP recognized the limitations of this approach in Copenhagen in 2009 and authorized nationally determined contributions to greenhouse gas reductions in the Paris Agreement in 2015.Adaptive governance is a promising but underutilized approach to advancing common interests in response to climate impacts. The interests affected by climate, and their relative priorities, differ from one community to the next, but typically they include protecting life and limb, property and prosperity, other human artifacts, and ecosystem services, while minimizing costs. Adaptive governance is promising because some communities have made significant progress in reducing their losses and vulnerability to climate impacts in the course of advancing their common interests. In doing so, they provide field-tested models for similar communities to consider. Policies that have worked anywhere in a network tend to be diffused for possible adaptation elsewhere in that network. Policies that have worked consistently intensify and justify collective action from the bottom up to reallocate supporting resources from the top down. Researchers can help realize the potential of adaptive governance on larger scales by recognizing it as a complementary approach in climate policy—not a substitute for scientific management, the historical baseline.

Contamination of aquatic environments by pollutants of emerging concern (PEC) creates new public health and environmental threats. Over the years, Africa has struggled to adequately treat wastewater before discharged into the environment. The situation is expected to be worsened by the more challenging to treat PEC like pharmaceuticals, endocrine disrupters, microplastics, surfactants, cyanotoxins, radioactive and flame retardants. Generally, the pollution of aquatic environments will have serious negative impacts on organisms that depend on the affected sources. Elsewhere, a number of research studies have reported the occurrence of these pollutants and in some cases exceeding the recommended levels. However, in Africa and other developing countries, a few studies have focused on PEC in aquatic resources. In this review, discussions are centered on the: (i) occurrence of PEC in African aquatic environments, (ii) potential risks to aquatic ecosystems and human health, and (iii) current chemical and biological monitoring techniques. There is need to include PEC in the research studies and routine environmental monitoring programmes particularly before the urban wastewater is discharged into the environment. Passive biomonitoring through using biomarkers like oxidative stress proteins and gonadal histopathology may be more informative and cheaper way of monitoring PEC than chemical analysis.

Over the past decade, the concept of risk has become central to environmental policy. Environmental decision making has been recast as reducing risk by assessing and managing it. Risk assessment is increasingly employed in environmental policymaking to set standards and initiate regulatory consideration and, even in epidemiology, to predict the health effects of environmental exposures. As such, it standardizes the methods of evaluation used in dealing with environmental hazards. Nonetheless, risk assessment remains controversial among scientists, and the policy results of risk assessment are generally not accepted by the public. It is not my purpose to examine the origin of these controversies, which I and others have considered elsewhere (see, e.g., EPA 1987), but rather to consider some of the consequences of the recent formulation of risk assessment as specific decisions and authorities distinguishable from other parts of environmental decision making. The focus of this chapter is the relatively new policy of separating certain aspects of risk assessment from risk management, a category that includes most decision-making actions. Proponents of this structural divorce contend that risk assessment is value neutral, a field of objective scientific analysis, while risk management is the arena where these objective data are processed into appropriate social policy. This raises relatively new problems to complicate the already contentious arena of environmental policy. This separation has created problems that interfere with the recognition and resolution of both scientific and transscientific issues in environmental policymaking. Indeed, both science and policy could be better served by recognizing the scientific limits of risk-assessment methods and allowing scientific and policy judgment to interact to resolve unavoidable uncertainties in the decisionmaking process. This chapter will discuss the forces that encouraged separating the performance of assessment and management at the EPA in the 1980s, which I characterize as an uneasy divorce. I shall examine some scientific and policy issues, especially regarding uncertainty, that have been aggravated by this policy of deliberate separation. Various interpretations of uncertainty have become central, and value-laden issues in decision making and appeals to uncertainty have often been an excuse for inaction.

This paper aimed to review the effects of P. juliflora (hereafter P. juliflora is represented by P. juliflora) on environmental factors in Ethiopia, management options and take up lessons learned elsewhere, and discuss about utilization and management of P. juliflora. It addresses relevant scientific information based on the evaluation of data collected from different journals, books, manuals, and various reports using the systematic review method. Invasion of P. juliflora had positive effects on soil properties, negative effects on plant diversity, human health, livestock health, and other economic losses. Its negative effects are outweighing its positive effects. The main negative effects of P. juliflora are its biotic factors such as allopathic chemicals and active ingredients such as phenolic compounds that are impairing animals and human beings. Mechanical, chemical, management by utilization, fire, disruption of its phenological stages, and biological control methods are among control methods of the species. However, these control methods have their pros and cons for its management. The review was based on limited research findings and sources because there are limitations in research works regarding P. juliflora and its management. This review is used to know the invasion of P. juliflora and its management options in Ethiopia and other similar tropical countries across the world.

Community resilience is a key index for describing the response of human habitat system against hazards. Enhancing the community resilience to flood disaster requires indicator identification and measurement system establishment, especially for flooding risk management. In this study, an advanced index framework for measuring community resilience to flood disaster is proposed integrating fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and interpretative structural model (ISM). Based on the definition of community resilience, the indicators are classified into six dimensions, including environmental factors, social factors, economic factors, psychological factors, institutional factors, and information and communication factors. A simplified community resilience evaluation index system is established by using FDM, and the hierarchical network structure of the community resilience to flood disasters is confirmed, in which the direct influence indicators and the root influence indicators are analyzed. The proposed framework in this study contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding of community resilience to flooding disasters and building a more resilience community; it is also expected to be extended for risk reduction in other natural hazards.

Understanding the factors related to destructive ecological processes in the tropics has expanded significantly in the last decade. Much has been learned about heterogeneity in geomorphology, soils, hydrology, and climate and about associated vulnerability to ecological damage. Research on cropping systems has divulged both the suitability and the liability in swidden agricultural practices and has led to recommendations involving alternative cropping and agroforestry complexes (Altieri 1987). At the same time, there has been a growing awareness that a more comprehensive knowledge of tropical ecology and enlarged technological and/or agricultural options will not necessarily affect a sustainable ecology (Altieri and Hecht 1990; Redclift 1984, 1987). Research on peasant economies in Latin America and elsewhere has demonstrated the existence of a highly differentiated peasantry, the vast majority of whom are landless or land-poor and who are more dependent on income earned from off-farm than from on-farm sources (Collins 1986; Deere and Wasserstrom 1981; Stonich 1991b). Such studies have demonstrated that systemic interconnections among family and corporate farmers with landholdings of all sizes promote environmental destruction (Stonich 1989); have established the existence of labor scarcity rather than labor surpluses in many peasant communities and the related environmental consequences (Brush 1977,1987; Collins 1987,1988; Posner and MacPherson 1982; Stonich 1993); and have called for rural and agricultural development policy that takes into account a socially differentiated peasantry and diversified rural poverty (de Janvry and Sadoulet 1989). It is increasingly evident that ecological destruction cannot be fathomed apart from the demographic, institutional, and social factors that influence the agricultural practices and other natural resource management decisions of agricultural producers. This paper describes a multidisciplinary methodology designed to examine the interactions among demographic trends, social processes, agricultural production decisions, and ecological decline in southern Honduras, a region characterized by widespread and worsening human impoverishment and environmental degradation. The methodology integrated the research efforts and databases compiled by anthropologists from the University of Kentucky using a farming systems approach, who were part of the socioeconomic component of the International Sorghum Millet Project (INTSORMIL) with potentially complementary research conducted by the natural and agricultural scientists working as part of the Comprehensive Resource Inventory and Evaluation System Project (CRIES) at Michigan State University.

This paper describes the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority’s experience in regulatory cooperation projects in Russia and elsewhere, with special focus on legacy issues. These legacies include many different kinds of objects and activities, including: obsolete large waste sources, such as those used in radioisotope thermoelectric generators; remediation of former military sites used for storage of spent nuclear fuel and radioactive waste; and wastes from uranium mining and ore processing. The objectives of these bi-lateral cooperation programmes are to promote effective and efficient regulatory supervision, taking into account international recommendations and good practice in other countries. Individual projects organised within the programme address specific challenges which require practical local interpretation of ICRP recommendations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Basic Safety Standards and other IAEA requirements and guidance documents. In some cases, new regulatory documentation has been required, as well as new regulatory procedures. In the long term, the program is intended to lead to an enhanced and enduring safety culture. Positive experience in Russia encouraged the Norwegian government to extend the regulatory collaboration programme to countries in central Asia, using experience gained with Russian regulatory authorities as well as support from Russian Technical Support Organisations. The programmes are effectively evolving into a regional regulatory support group. Noting this experience, the paper includes suggestions for how international cooperation could be effective in addressing common radiation safety objectives while addressing local differences in technical, geographical, economic and cultural matters in each country. The continuing results from the cooperation will be used to provide input to the International Forum for Regulatory Supervision of Legacy Sites (RSLS) which was recently set up by the IAEA. The RSLS objectives mirror those of the bilateral activities described above and an outline is provided of the preliminary RSLS Work Plan.

Measurement of surface levels is essential in waste assessment and in clearing materials from nuclear licensed sites. Radiation measurements in general are much less accurate than most forms of engineering measurement, even in relatively simple conditions, such as radiochemical laboratories. Waste assessment during clearance is far more difficult. The areas of uncertainty include: (1) The intrinsic limitations of the equipment employed. For surface activity measurement, the detector is often a large area alpha + beta scintillation probe connected to a ratemeter. Any detector has an effective energy threshold below which it fails to register an event. The detector response is rarely uniform over the window area. The detector is connected to a ratemeter. The design of a ratemeter and the way it is set up will have a large influence on how easy the user finds it to classify correctly materials close to the exempt limit. (2)Calibration of the equipment. There is only a limited set of surface contamination sources available. Prediction of the response to other nuclides can be complicated. (3)Determination of the fingerprint. For many practical situations, the potential contaminant is a mixture of nuclides emitting a mixture of alpha, beta, gamma and X radiation. Any detector will have a response which depends on the radiation type and energy. Frequently, the response to the fingerprint of the most operationally robust and convenient detectors will be dominated by only a small fraction of the total activity present. It is thus vital that that fraction is well established and any area zoned so that the fraction remains reasonably stable. (4)The influence of natural activity in materials and of gamma radiation from elsewhere. Many building materials have levels of natural activity in the Bq/g region. These often vary significantly from sample to sample and area to area, particularly where buildings and equipment have been extended or modified. (5)Surface condition. For short range emissions such as alpha particles and low energy betas, the range for detection in air is a few mm. Any material covering the activity, such as paint or grease, will reduce the emission rate.

The paper describes the experience gained by the author in teaching decommissioning in the Highlands of Scotland. Initially when asked to teach the subject of decommissioning to students sitting for a BSc degree in “Electrical or Mechanical Engineering with Decommissioning Studies”, the author was taken aback, not having previously taught degree students and there was no precedent since there was no previous material or examples to build on. It was just as difficult for the students since whilst some had progressed from completing HND studies, the majority were employed at the Dounreay site and were mature students with families who were availing themselves of the opportunity for career advancement (CPD). Some of the students were from the UKAEA and its contractors whilst others were from Rolls-Royce working at Vulcan, the Royal Navy’s establishment for testing nuclear reactors for submarines. A number of the students had not been in a formal learning environment for many years. The College which had originally been funded by the UKAEA and the nuclear industry in the 1950’s was anxious to break into the new field of Decommissioning and were keen to promote these courses in order to support the work progressing on site. Many families in Thurso, and in Caithness, have a long tradition of working in the nuclear industry and it was thought at the time that expertise in nuclear decommissioning could be developed and indeed exported elsewhere. In addition the courses being promoted by the College would attract students from other parts so that a centre of excellence could be established. In parallel with formal teaching, online courses were also developed to extend the reach of the College. The material was developed as a mixture of power point presentations and formal notes and was obtained from existing literature, web searches and interactive discussions with people in the industry as well as case studies obtained from actual situations. Assignments were set and examination papers prepared which were validated by internal and external assessors. The first course was started in 2004 (believed to be unique at that time) and attracted eight students. Subsequent courses have been promoted as well as a BEng (Hons) course which also included a course on Safety and Reliability.

Utilities worldwide are using dry-cask storage systems to handle the ever-increasing number of discharged fuel assemblies from nuclear power plants. In the United States and possibly elsewhere, this trend will continue until an acceptable disposal path is established. The recent Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, specifically the events with the storage pools, may accelerate the drive to relocate more of the used fuel assemblies from pools into dry casks. Many of the newer cask systems incorporate dual-purpose (storage and transport) or multiple-purpose (storage, transport, and disposal) canister technologies. With the prospect looming for very long term storage — possibly over multiple decades — and deferred transport, condition- and performance-based aging management of cask structures and components is now a necessity that requires immediate attention. From the standpoint of consequences, one of the greatest concerns is the rupture of a substantial number of fuel rods that would affect fuel retrievability. Used fuel cladding may become susceptible to rupture due to radial-hydride-induced embrittlement caused by water-side corrosion during the reactor operation and subsequent drying/transfer process, through early stage of storage in a dry cask, especially for high burnup fuels. Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an automated data capture and remote-sensing technology ideally suited for monitoring sensitive assets on a long-term, continuous basis. One such system, called ARG-US, has been developed by Argonne National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Packaging Certification Program for tracking and monitoring drums containing sensitive nuclear and radioactive materials. The ARG-US RFID system is versatile and can be readily adapted for dry-cask monitoring applications. The current built-in sensor suite consists of seal, temperature, humidity, shock, and radiation sensors. With the universal asynchronous receiver/transmitter interface in the tag, other sensors can be easily added as needed. The system can promptly generate alarms when any of the sensor thresholds are violated. For performance and compliance records, the ARGUS RFID tags incorporate nonvolatile memories for storing sensory data and history events. Over the very long term, to affirmatively monitor the condition of the cask interior (particularly the integrity of cover gas and fuel-rod cladding), development of enabling technologies for such monitoring would be required. These new technologies may include radiation-hardened sensors, in-canister energy harvesting, and wireless means of transmitting the sensor data out of the canister/cask.

Between 1959 and 1967, Plutonium Contaminated Material (PCM) was stored in the magazines at the Low Level Waste Facility at Drigg. However, PCM is now classified as Intermediate Level Waste — rather than Low Level Waste — and so a programme to remove the PCM is underway. In support of this programme a suite of safety related non-destructive assay instrumentation has been supplied to the Drigg Site in order to characterise the PCM prior to transportation. Three identical assay systems employing High Resolution Gamma Spectrometry (HRGS) and Passive Neutron Coincidence Counting (PNCC) have been installed in the new waste retrieval facilities on three of the PCM magazines. These Retrieval Module Monitors allow the fissile content and radionuclide inventory of individual items of PCM to be determined before they are placed with other items into 200 litre drums and transported across the Drigg site to a temporary drum storage facility. In addition, two assay systems of a different design have also been installed in a new PCM Drum export facility. The purpose of these Drum Monitors is to determine the fissile content and radionuclide inventory of drums of PCM that have been retrieved from the magazines before they are transported to Sellafield. Like the Retrieval Module Monitors, the Drum Monitors also uses the HRGS and PNCC techniques to measure drums of up to 400 litre capacity but in this case a scanning detector is used instead of three fixed gamma detectors. This paper describes the characteristics of both the Retrieval and Drum Monitors, the particular requirements for these systems and the means by which they were designed, built and tested in order to ensure that they delivered their primary safety function, which was to not underestimate the fissile content of the items of PCM they measure.

Data published elsewhere (Moore, et al., 1992; Bergman et al., 1997) suggests that the then costs of disposable type Glass Fibre HEPA filtration trains to the DOE was $55million per year (based on an average usage of HEPA panels of 11,748 pieces per year between 1987 and 1990), $50million of which was attributable to installation, testing, removal and disposal. The same authors suggest that by 1995 the number of HEPA panels being used had dropped to an estimated 4000 pieces per year due to the ending of the Cold War. The yearly cost to the DOE of 4000 units per year was estimated to be $29.5 million using the same parameters that previously suggested the $55 million figure. Within that cost estimate, $300 each was the value given to the filter and $4,450 was given to peripheral activity per filter. Clearly, if the $4,450 component could be reduced, tremendous saving could result, in addition to a significant reduction in the legacy burden of waste volumes. This same cost is applied to both the 11,748 and 4000 usage figures. The work up to now has focussed on the development of a low cost, long life (cleanable), direct replacement of the traditional filter train. This paper will review an alternative strategy, that of preventing the contaminating dust from reaching and blinding the HEPA filters, and thereby removing the need to replace them. What has become clear is that ‘low cost’ and ‘Metallic HEPA’ are not compatible terms. The original Bergman et al., 1997 work suggested that 1000 cfm (cubic feet per minute) (1690 m3/hr) stainless HEPAs could be commercially available for $5000 each after development (although the $70,000 development unit may be somewhat exaggerated – the authors own company have estimated development units able to be retrofitted into strengthened standard housings would be available for perhaps $30,000). The likely true cost of such an item produced industrially in significant numbers may be closer to $15,000 each. That being the case, the economics for replacing glass fibre HEPAs with the metallic, cleanable alternative are unjustifiable except on ethical grounds. By proposing the protection of the traditional Glass Fibre HEPA from its blinding contamination, a means is presented to reduce both their life costs and ultimate waste volumes. An examination of the case for self-cleaning HEPA protection also suggests that, even when the mechanical life limit of the HEPA train is reached, the degree of contamination could be reduced to such an extent that its means/classification of final disposal may be modified to further reduce cost. Pulsed jet filtration using metallic filter media is a practical and industrially proven means by which solids can be prevented from reaching the HEPA train and returned to the operator for disposal, whilst not interrupting the process flow through the system. Field experience and data to prove the contention is available. There are clearly benefits with regard to disposal in returning to the user the small quantities of dust that would otherwise lead to the contamination and blinding of the large volume of the filter train. A cost benefit analysis shows that this radical solution to HEPA cost amelioration can work. Presenting a review of the technology and its application to other areas illustrates that where gross dust removal or recovery is necessary, or where extreme conditions make traditional HEPA technologies impractical, metallic filtration systems can (and do) also offer economic and industrially real solutions.

CANDU Stations are designed with significant amounts of carbon steel piping in the primary circuit. Although the primary coolant chemistry is such that carbon steel corrosion is minimized, nevertheless magnetite transport from the carbon steel surfaces to the steam generators is a significant issue leading to potential reduction in heat transfer efficiency in the steam generator. There are other contributors to the reduction of heat transfer efficiency such as divider plate leakage whereby some of the coolant short circuits the steam generator tubes and secondary side steam generator tube fouling. CANDU station operators have utilized a number of mitigating measures such as primary and secondary side mechanical and chemical tube cleaning, and divider plate refurbishment to counter these problems but these are all expensive and dose intensive, It is therefore very important to establish the relative contribution of each source to the overall heat transfer degradation problem so the most effective results are obtained. Tube removal and laboratory assessment of the oxide loading is possible and has been utilized but at best it provides an incomplete picture since typically only short lengths of tubes are removed — most often from the hot leg and the tube removal process adversely impacts the primary side oxide integrity. Kinectrics Inc. has developed, qualified and deployed Oxiprobe, a highly mobile non destructive technology able to remove and quantify the deposited oxide loading on the primary surfaces of steam generator tubes. The technology is deployed during shutdown and provides valuable, direct information on: • Primary oxide distribution within the steam generator; • Oxide loading (thickness of oxide) on the primary surfaces of steam generator tubes; • Oxide composition and radiochemical characterization. The End Effector probe can reach either side of the straight section of the steam generator U tube but as currently designed it is unable to be deployed in the U-tube region. The current technology is able to visit 4 tubes simultaneously. The technology is Code classified as a Class 6 fitting by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and registered by the Ontario Technical Standards and Safety Authority as a pressure boundary retaining system. Although the application of the technology to date has been applied to steam generator tubes, in principle it can be applied to any heat exchanger tube, vertical or horizontal. This paper will describe the system, the qualification program for its deployment as well as some actual field results. The applicability of the technology for PWR steam generators is also addressed.

This paper presents the results of a review of the treatment of uncertainty in performance assessment (PA) and safety-case development, carried out as part of the European Commission (EC) project PAMINA (Performance Assessment Methodologies IN Application to Guide the Development of the Safety Case). Information on the treatment of uncertainties was gathered from PAMINA participants and several other organisations using a questionnaire, and via a limited wider review of the literature. The questionnaire responses obtained represent 16 disposal programmes in 13 countries, including all of the countries with advanced programmes to implement deep geological disposal, allowing the review to give wide coverage of global activity. A two-day workshop was held in Brussels in March 2007, in which PAMINA participants reviewed an initial document which summarised the questionnaire results. Work plans were formulated for the remainder of the PAMINA programme. The 16 programmes represented are at diverse phases of maturity: four are at the conceptual development or feasibility stage, seven are at the site selection or site characterisation stage, two are at the licensing stage, one is at the construction stage, one has an operational repository, and one is at the decommissioning/closure stage. There is also wide variation in the development of regulations concerning the treatment of uncertainty for deep geological disposal of radioactive waste, with several countries having no specific regulations. The review indicates that there is a high level of consensus with respect to the nature of uncertainties in PAs and how they should be classified, although this is sometimes masked by variations in terminology and differences in the way uncertainties are treated in programmes. A system of classification is set out in this review, with reference to the nature of uncertainties. The review discusses how the principal classes of uncertainty are treated in PAs and safety cases. While nearly all programmes treat parameter and scenario uncertainties, some do not treat conceptual model uncertainties explicitly. Respondents expressed familiarity with sensitivity-analysis techniques, and clearly understand the difference between these and uncertainty analysis. It is less clear how widespread the use of sensitivity analysis is, especially formal mathematical schemes. Almost no organisations identified uncertainties that may challenge programmes, suggesting a high level of confidence in their ability to site and design deep geological disposal facilities so as to manage uncertainties effectively. However, respondents variously identified the engineered barrier system, the geosphere, the biosphere, and future human intrusion as key sources of uncertainty that require further investigation. Responses on the issue of communicating uncertainties were patchy: some respondents professed to have little experience in this area, whereas others chose not to answer the question. Some restricted themselves to discussing communication with regulators. Only a few programmes have gone as far as commissioning research into different approaches to communicating uncertainty to a variety of stakeholders.

In the nuclear power industry, many techniques are used to confirm that items are suitable for free-release. These techniques usually involve monitoring of the items with at least one type of radiometric instrument, to ensure that no significant quantity of man-made radioactivity is present. These monitoring techniques depend on the stage in the clearance process, the application and the size of the article being monitored. The UK Radioactive Substances Act has a Substances of Low Activity (SoLA) exemption which allows for articles and waste that have a man-made radioactive content less than 0.4 Bq g−1, to be classified as non-radioactive and be discharged from site in similar fashion to conventional wastes. Identifying whether the waste meets the criteria is technically challenging due to the low level of this exemption. Consequently the detection limits of most common portable radiation protection instrumentation is higher than this level. Historically portable alpha and beta contamination instruments are used as part of the clearance process; these are reasonably effective at monitoring the surface of an object for the presence of radioactivity, but far less so for bags of waste where alpha and beta emissions are easily absorbed within the waste. Portable gamma only contamination instruments have proved effective where some contaminants emit gamma radiation. However even these instruments have some difficulty in confirming that an article is “free” from man-made radioactivity where the mass of the article is below a critical mass. In this industry, the radioactive fingerprint will typically include an easily detectable gamma emitting radionuclide such as 60Co, or 137Cs, which may be used as a tracer for other radionuclides which cannot be easily detected with such an instrument. Installed clearance (bag) monitors are very effective where the user has a good knowledge of the radioactive fingerprint, and where there are significant (more than 10%) gamma emitting radionuclides in the fingerprint. They are ineffective where pure alpha and beta emitters dominate the radioactive fingerprint. These monitors are capable of monitoring to 1/10 of the SoLA exemption level for 60Co, with a small variation in response across the volume of the measurement chamber. Inevitably these instruments are also sensitive to NORM, so a good knowledge of NORM activity concentrations is each waste stream is required for adequate compensation. Vehicle monitors are useful for reassurance monitoring, although due to the variable nature of each waste consignment and the high background count rate, their high detection limit means they are not suitable as the sole means of free release monitoring.

Abstract Drill cuttings waste was recycled into new use and pilot project to utilize drill cutting waste in road and construction application were carried out. This work describes strategy and best practice to engage regulator in order to unlock regulatory requirements for the pilot on drill cutting waste utilization. Characterization of drill cuttings waste was carried out and its regulatory requirements as indicated in waste management plan and EIA were investigated in parallel to the study on technical feasibility to utilize drill cuttings waste. Equally important is investigation on the rule and regulation relevant to areas and/or industries that the drill cuttings waste will be used for. These regulatory requirements must be clearly identified in an early stage of the pilot project as it will indicate necessary analytical tests to be carried out and will provide information for designing of an environmental impact assessment and monitoring program. Drill cuttings waste is classified into two groups based on type of drilling mud used. Drill cuttings from upper section of well contaminated with water-based mud, called top-hole drill cuttings, is classified as non-hazardous waste while drill cuttings from lower section of well contaminated with synthetic-based mud, called bottom-hole drill cuttings, is classified as hazardous-minor waste. Physical properties of the drill cuttings waste such as pH, conductivity, salinity, chemical properties on chloride contents as well as heavy metal contents must be analyzed and identified to be within the standard limit. These analytical results provide necessary technical information for regulator to make decision based upon in order to support the drill cuttings waste utilization pilot. Based on characteristic of road usage and potential wear and tear of the pilot recycled drill cuttings road, environmental impact assessment and monitoring program on soil, surface water, and subsurface water on areas closed to the pilot site were performed prior and after construction of the pilot road. This environmental impact assessment and monitoring program provides track record of technical analytical data which is essential supporting information for regulator's consideration and endorsement on the future modification of EIA's regulatory requirements. This work demonstrates that good understanding on classification of the drill cuttings waste, its regulatory requirements, characteristic of application the drill cuttings waste will be used for, and its relevant legislations are essential. This information indicates necessary technical analyses required to be performed in order to obtain important technical data to unlock regulatory requirements. Drill cuttings waste utilization not only save waste management cost, but also reduce environmental footprint. This approach can be applied to utilization of other type of waste as well.