Management of contaminated structures at federal facilities: Reuse considerations and other major issues

The management of contaminated structures can be a major activity at some federal facilities and generally differs from management of contaminated environmental media. In particular, a major issue associated with a contaminated structure is whether there is a realistic potential for future use of the structure. This issue should be addressed early in a planning process. The resolution of this issue significantly affects other major issues associated with management of a contaminated structure such as: (1) What are the expected costs associated with management of the structure? (2) What regulatory requirements are applicable? (3) What characterization is needed? (4) What risk assessment is necessary? and (5) What remediation decisions must be made? This article considers all of these issues.