Water Quality
Independent Peer Reviewer
Update: The first of three Independent Peer Review Meetings
was held on January 14, 2010.
Click here to see the PowerPoint presented by ChemRisk, LLC
At the request of Water Quality Town Hall participants in 2008, the BDD sought funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) for an independent peer reviewer. A $200,000 federal grant from the DOE was received in fall 2009. The Independent Peer Reviewer, based on existing information, data and studies, will prepare an independent risk assessment regarding LANL contaminants with exposure through the drinking water pathway. That exposure and risk will be compared to other pathways of exposure to LANL contamination and public exposure to radiation and radionuclides of other origins, including natural background.
The RFP scope-of-services emphasizes public risk communication and includes a series of at least three public meetings. The RFP was published on July 17, 2009 and responses were due on September 16, 2009. Responses were reviewed by a panel including one public member, who was appointed by the BDD Project Board. On November, 5, 2009, the BDD Board approved a $200,000 contract with ChemRisk, LLC. For a copy of ChemRisk’s proposal, click here.
ChemRisk is a scientific consulting firm providing state-of-the-art toxicology, industrial Hygiene, radiological health, epidemiology and risk assessment services to a wide variety of organizations that confront public health, occupational health, and environmental challenges. ChemRisk scientists have been leaders in the independent investigation of historical operations at U.S. nuclear weapons plants. Since 1999, ChemRisk has been conducting the Los Alamos Historical Document Retrieval and Assessment Project for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The team will include toxicologists, a physician advisor, health risk assessors, health physicists and an environmental statistician. For this project, ChemRisk will partner with AMEC Earth and Environmental, which has broad and in-depth experience in the hydrology, hydrogeology and geochemistry of New Mexico. AMEC has worked on projects throughout New Mexico including sites at Sandia and Los Alamos laboratories.
The first public meeting will be held for the Independent Peer Reviewer to solicit and evaluate input from interested parties. The Independent Peer Review will be concluded in 2010. For a tentative schedule of Independent Peer Review activities, click here.
If the BDD Board has additional or unanswered questions or concerns at the conclusion of the work as described in the RFP and the resulting professional services agreement with the selected independent peer reviewer, it is possible that this work can be accomplished under an amendment to the initial agreement that DOE and LANL could potentially agree to fund.