Comprehensive Interdisciplinary Assessment

The field of risk assessment currently includes at least three distinct areas: (1) probabilistic risk analysis and safety studies, (2) human health risk analysis, and (3) analysis of risks to ecological systems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has nationally recognized capabilities in all three areas. These capabilities are complemented at ORNL by interests that lie at the intersection of the three areas; that is, risk-oriented information is incorporated into environmental impact analyses and other comprehensive, integrated assessments. These assessments involve identification and characterization of hazards, propagation pathways (e.g., air and water) by which these hazards might affect the environment or human health, and quantification of the consequences of exposure to the hazard. Both probabilistic (i.e., concerned with likelihood) and deterministic (i.e., concerned with magnitude or consequences) analyses have been prepared by ORNL staff.

ORNL's method of "comprehensive interdisciplinary integrated assessment" is a process that can be used to evaluate and clarify resource-management options and outcomes for decision makers. Because not everything can be valued using a single metric--such as a dollar value--ORNL's interdisciplinary assessment process also involves the evaluation of trade-offs among dissimilar attributes. As practiced by ORNL analysts, these assessments typically combine scientific, social, economic, health, and environmental data, as well as computational models and simulations.

Scientists at ORNL recognized the importance and value of interdisciplinary and unbiased approaches to solving environmental problems in the early 1970s and have been instrumental in pioneering the development of tools and methods for such assessments over the past three decades. ORNL staff have extensive experience in environmental impact assessment and in development of human-health, ecological, and regional-scale risk analysis; regional and global-scale computational modeling; uncertainty analysis; and radiological hazard assessment. This experience has brought together unbiased scientific, engineering, economic, and social science expertise, making ORNL unique among research institutions at resolving issues associated with a safe and sustainable future.

For additional information, including examples of ORNL's work, click one of the links below.

• Environmental Assessments and Impact Statements
• Integrated Assessments
• Economics and Social Science Studies

For additional details, contact

Greg Zimmerman
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008, MS-6200
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6200
phone: (865) 574-5815
fax: (865) 574-5788
email: zimmermangp@ornl.gov

Randy Curlee
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2008, MS-6206
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6206
phone: (865) 576-4864
fax: (865) 574-5283
email: curleetr@ornl.gov [top]