Using Decision Analysis and Risk Analysis to Manage Utility Environmental Risk

William E. Balson, Justin L. Welsh and Donald S. Wilson
Additional contact information
William E. Balson: Decision Focus Incorporated, 650 Castro Street, Suite 300, Mountain View, California 94041
Justin L. Welsh: Decision Focus Incorporated, 650 Castro Street, Suite 300, Mountain View, California 94041
Donald S. Wilson: Decision Focus Incorporated, 650 Castro Street, Suite 300, Mountain View, California 94041

Interfaces, 1992, vol. 22, issue 6, 126-139

Abstract: Decision analysis and risk analysis techniques are used to analyze and evaluate a wide variety of problems. Recently, the electric utility industry has used these techniques for health, environmental, and economic risks associated with current and past operations. In some instances, the true health and environmental hazards posed by certain chemicals (for example, PCBs and dioxin) may be controversial and widely debated by the scientific and regulatory community. Regardless of the outcomes of such debates, the continued use or presence of these chemicals may pose a very real economic risk to the utility in the form of cleanup costs, fines, liabilities, public relations, or other direct or indirect costs. Decision analysis and risk analysis techniques are used to manage these economic risks. In other contexts, the utility may need an accurate quantitative assessment of health and environmental risks and an evaluation of alternative mitigation strategies. Some of the same techniques are applied to the environmental risk analysis problem.

Keywords: industries: electric/electronic; risk analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1992
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/inte.22.6.126 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orinte:v:22:y:1992:i:6:p:126-139

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Interfaces from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().