Munitions and Explosives of Concern:
Hazard Assessment
April 2005
What is the Purpose of this Fact Sheet?
To introduce stakeholders to the Munitions and Explosives of Concern Hazard Assessment
(MEC HA) Initiative.
How did this Initiative Start?
In March 2004, the U.S. EPA Federal Facilities Restoration and Reuse Office requested
Federal agencies and State and Tribal organizations to form a technical working group to
develop a consensus methodology and guidance document for site-specific assessment of
explosive hazards associated with MEC at munitions response sites. The participants include
representatives from the Department of Defense, Department of Interior, Association of State
and Territorial Solid Waste Management Officials, and Tribal Association for Solid Waste and
Emergency Response, along with EPA. An executive committee composed of senior-level
officials from each of the participating organizations was established to guide policy choices.
The organizations were invited to provide personnel to help develop a technical framework to
help evaluate explosive hazards. A technical working group has met several times since May
of 2004 in support of this initiative.
Why is the MEC HA Necessary?
Currently project teams do not have a standard methodology for assessing explosive hazards
at munitions response sites. Project teams are faced with the choice of using existing methods
to assess and manage hazards, some of which have limitations, or developing their own site-
specific methodology. By working with an accepted, consistent framework, project teams would
be able to streamline their project activities, make more consistent decisions, and have the
necessary documentation to support those decisions. The organizations that are collaborating
on the development of this guidance believe that the time is ripe to attempt to develop such a
tool.
What is the Purpose of the MEC HA?
It will help project teams focus on the hazard management choices that must be made during
site evaluation and cleanup of MEC under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). Project teams can use a site-specific hazard
assessment to evaluate the impact of different cleanup approaches, as well as different uses
and activities to help ensure protectiveness for current and future land uses. In addition, it will
fulfill the National Contingency Plan requirement for site-specific risk assessments under
CERCLA It will also do the following:

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¦	Provide a consistent framework for organizing information to be used in the
decision processes. Project teams will make similar hazard management decisions for
similar site situations.
¦	Assist project teams in managing uncertainty. Use of a MEC HA process will help
identify when the team has collected a sufficient quantity and quality of information to
make management decisions supporting no-action, removal, or remedial decisions.
¦	Ensure continuity of hazard management evaluations and decisions. When a
consistent, accepted framework is in use, decisions for a munitions response site are
more likely to continue to be supported when the project team changes, such as when
new staff, contractors, or stakeholders become involved.
What is the Progress to Date?
The technical working group has examined a wide variety of technical aspects for MEC sites
and information that is relied upon to make evaluations and decisions in the CERCLA process.
Several issue papers have been developed that discuss these aspects. A list of some of the
key issue papers and topics is described below.
¦	The relationship of the MEC HA to the DoD Munitions Response Site Prioritization
Protocol (MRSPP)
¦	Evaluation of existing risk/hazard assessment methodologies for strengths and
limitations.
¦	Identify the purposes and roles of a MEC HA in the CERCLA decision process.
¦	Criteria that the MEC HA should address to be successful in meeting project team
needs for hazard management decisions.
¦	Resolve specific issues related to the structure and the function of the MEC HA, such as
input factors and expression of output categories for different levels of hazards.
The working group currently is identifying the input factors that will go into a draft technical
framework, evaluating the scoring for those input factors, and assessing how the output should
be expressed and explained. The working group is also testing the way the different input
factors relate to each other to create a hazard score. The output of this effort will be a
framework that describes in detail the proposed MEC HA process. The issue papers and
related information can be found at the following EPA website:
http://www.epa.gov/fedfac/documents/munitions.htm
The draft MEC HA framework will undergo pilot tests at a variety of MEC sites starting in May
2005 to get feedback on its ease of use and on how well it meets the stated goals and criteria.
A draft guidance document that describes the complete application and use of the MEC HA is
expected to be released for public comment in the late summer of 2005. Please check the
website for the exact dates. The final MEC HA guidance document is expected to be completed
by December 2005.

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