Decision analysis of incineration costs in Superfund site remediation

This study examines the decision-making process of the remedial design (RD) phase of on-site incineration projects conducted at Superfund sites, Decisions made during RD affect the cost and schedule of remedial action (RA), Decision analysis techniques are used to determine the extent of information on the waste characteristics that should be released to prospective bidders on a fixed-price RA contract for a specific site, The decision maker has two alternatives: prepare the project specifications including only the description of the waste provided in the remedial investigation/feasibility study or obtain additional information on the waste characteristics during RD, The dilemma facing decision makers is that costs, in both time and money, are associated with acquiring additional information, whereas having more information may result in cost savings since bidders base their cost estimates on the description of the waste characteristics. In the analysis, the net benefits of providing bidders with additional information are determined for the subject site, The results show that the benefits of obtaining information outweigh the costs only when the cost of obtaining the information, in terms of both time and money, is not too great.