Example Application of a Holistic Decision Support Tool Used for Selecting Corrective Actions at Coal Combustion Product Sites

Example Application of a Holistic Decision Support Tool Used for Selecting Corrective Actions at Coal Combustion Product Sites

Grand Rapids, Michigan

Example Application of a Holistic Decision Support Tool Used for Selecting Corrective Actions at Coal Combustion Product Sites Authors Ms. Ari Lewis - United States - Gradient Mr. John Kondziolka - United States - Gradient Mr. Matt Biega - United States - Gradient Dr. Egidio Tentori - United States - Gradient Dr. Qian Zhang - United States - Gradient Dr. Ishita Shrivastava - United States - Gradient Mr. Bruce Hensel - United States - Electric Power Research Institute Abstract Gradient developed a holistic decision support tool (HDST) for EPRI to support corrective action alternative assessments at coal combustion product (CCP) sites. This tool considers 38 sustainability criteria across risk, green and sustainable remediation (GSR), equity, and economics. The results of the HDST are site-specific. For this example application, six site-specific corrective action alternatives were evaluated using the HDST, including monitored natural attenuation (MNA), pump and treat (P&T), P&T with MNA, a permeable reactive zone (PRZ), hydraulic control, and hydraulic control with MNA. In this example, no alternative was consistently preferable across all criteria. While all of the alternatives satisfied human health and environmental risk criteria, the PRZ and P&T alternatives had higher worker and community safety concerns. MNA had the best overall performance in GSR, while the PRZ had the highest amount of greenhouse gas emissions. For the equity indicators, P&T and hydraulic control were predicted to remove contaminants more rapidly and had higher community acceptance. P&T and P&T with MNA performed favorably on economics criteria due to job creation, while the PRZ was costly and less feasible. This poster demonstrates effective use of the HDST to evaluate and communicate corrective action alternative performance on sustainability factors.