Life cycle considerations risk assessments

Resource and environmental profile analysis (REPA), the forerunner to the current practice of life cycle assessment, focused on quantifying the energy requirements and emissions of a product or process but not the impacts on human health or the ecosystem. Ideally, according to the originators of REPA, the analysis would be linked to a risk assessment of emissions related to a process or product [91,92]. It is worth noting, with respect to the theme of this book, that REPA originated in 1969. Environmental life cycle considerations did not formally enter into product development or modification before that time. 

For pesticide risk assessment, recovery is taken into account to derive an NOEAEC (no-observed ecologically adverse effect concentration). A maximum of 8 weeks is often taken as an acceptable recovery period, but the life cycle of the affected species should also be taken into consideration (SANCO 2002). 

Figure 24.3 shows another activity system for the M L Project sphere. This business was particularly complex and, at the time, M L s largest customer for parts. The life cycle of each overhaul project began with a competitive Pre-Tender, or Proposal, period. These activities are in white boxes in Figure 24.3. This required Bombardier Transportation to review the operator s drawings, assess the condition of the vehicles, and quote the cost of the overhaul. This often involved assuming considerable financial risk.

The fact that environmental considerations have been and will continue to be an important motivation to develop and introduce biopolymers calls for a comparison of their environmental performance with their petrochemical counterparts. To this end, life cycle assessment (LCA) can be applied, which is a standardised method to quantify environmental impacts. LCA studies, however, do not address environmental risks (e.g. related to outcrossing of genetically modified species) and they neither cover ethical, social, and economic aspects. 

The main interest in the analysis of uranium in environmental samples is its effect as radioactive toxic heavy metal on the flora and fauna and assessment of the potential risk to human life directly or through the food chain. Natural uranium is present in practically all types of environmental samples—plants, soil, water bodies, and even air. In addition, anthropogenic activities related mainly to releases and discharges from the uranium fuel cycle may contaminate nearby areas, and that pollution may spread by wind and water action to considerable distances from the source. In order to assess the uranium content in the environment, representative samples need to be gathered (see Frame 3.2)—a task that is much more complicated than generally expected due to the variability of the sampled media. 

---