Waste Estimation Case Studies to Support Planning for Natural and Manmade Disasters
About the Webinar
Originally presented October 10, 2023
Materials and waste management presents considerable challenges during any large-scale disaster; additional challenges will exist during a wide-area chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear (CBRN) incident. EPA encourages pre-incident waste management planning by tribal, state, and local emergency planners.
The All-Hazards Waste Management Planning Tool (AHWMPT) can help these entities develop pre- and post-incident plans. An important part of pre-incident debris management planning is to develop a prospective inventory of materials and wastes. Communities can use this inventory to begin planning the magnitude of materials and wastes that may be generated and will need to be managed (e.g., staging, treatment, disposal).
Often, emergency planners do not have sufficient time or resources to allow them to effectively plan for low-probability, high-impact incidents. This webinar presents a set of scalable case studies of various types of scenarios that could be utilized by communities to develop an initial estimate of materials and waste quantities and types that would be suitable for use in pre-incident planning documents.
About the Presenters
Paul Lemieux is a senior research engineer in EPA's Homeland Security and Materials Management Division in the Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response. Paul has a BS in Chemistry from Seattle University and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah. He has been with EPA for 35 years, initially studying formation and control of pollutants from combustion systems. Since 2002 he has been working on management of wastes from cleanup after chemical, biological, radiological incidents, and foreign animal disease outbreaks. Additionally, Paul has been working on decision support tools to aid decision makers during wide-area contamination incidents. Recently, he has been back working with his combustion research colleagues investigating thermal destruction of perfluoro-alkyl-substances (PFAS).