RESUMO
Over $500 billion has gone toward cleanup of large contaminated sites owned and/or operated by the U.S. Federal Government over the past 30 years. Nevertheless, some stakeholders worry about the risks associated with what they perceive as a slow process of cleanup, as well as the positive and negative impacts of the cleanup activities themselves. Therefore, it is important for both the U.S. taxpayer and workers and residents living near the sites that are impacted by site conditions and activities, to clearly understand the progress that is being made toward achieving published cleanup goals, and a timeline for completion. This manuscript asks how lessons drawn from risk communication literature can inform practices for communicating metrics related to cleanup progress at U.S Department of Energy former nuclear weapon sites to different audiences. Following the review of literature, we present a case study that explores metrics being used and communicated on the websites of DOE and its largest sites, and discuss the consistency of these metrics and implications for public understanding and trust of progress being made. We finish the manuscript by applying the principles from the literature to the findings from the case study to suggest how the DOE could consider improvements in the format, content or delivery of cleanup progress metrics to its various audiences.
RESUMO
As part of the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Society for Risk Analysis and Risk Analysis: An International Journal, this essay reviews the 10 most important accomplishments of risk analysis from 1980 to 2010, outlines major accomplishments in three major categories from 2011 to 2019, discusses how editors circulate authors' accomplishments, and proposes 10 major risk-related challenges for 2020-2030. Authors conclude that the next decade will severely test the field of risk analysis.