October 1996

Highlights and Initiatives

Web Site.EERC Director of Communications Daniel Schaffer , Publications Coordinators Rebecca Robinson and Debbie Bower , Administrative Secretary Tina Cordy , and Student Intern David Zlotchenko have teamed up to design the EERC's Staff Home Page on the World Wide Web. The staff page features both professional and personal pages for EERC research staffers and a sampling of their publications. It also boasts links to Forum for Applied Research and Public Policy , a national journal published jointly by the EERC and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and InSITES, the national newsletter of the Waste Management Research and Education Institute, an EERC affiliate organization. Since last month, EERC sites have logged nearly 15,000 hits. You can visit the page at http: //www.ra.utk.edu/eerc/

Reports. The EERC recently released two reports. The first, prepared by EERC Executive Director Jack Barkenbus and Senior Research Scientist David Feldman, is titled "Strengthening the Tradition of Non Use of Nuclear Weapons." The report presents the proceedings of an international symposium held this past May in Oak Ridge to examine the political, social, and ethical factors necessary to create a future world in which nuclear weapons remain unused. The second report, titled "Environmental Priority Setting in U.S. States and Communities," reflects research conducted by Feldman , Research Associate Ralph Perhac, and Graduate Research Assistant Ruth Anne Hanahan . The report is based on a survey of individuals involved in environmental risk assessment projects in 16 states, five localities, and one U.S. territory, as well as documents from these projects. It explores how state and local priority setting initiatives help identify, characterize, rank, and reduce risks and how such initiatives can be improved.

Research. The EERC's Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies (CCPCT) has received three grants totaling $965,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under EPA's Design for the Environment (DfE) Program. The DfE program supports efforts to provide businesses with information on cost effective design and production processes that reduce the environmental impacts associated with various products. The three CCPCT projects target new, flat panel computer displays; alternative surface finishing techniques for printed wiring boards; and new ink application technologies for use in the gravure sector of the printing industry, which produces high volume publications and product packaging. Through these projects, CCPCT researchers hope to assess the performance, cost, and environmental impacts of these emerging technologies.

Research Scientist, Jean Peretz and Research Professor Bob Bohm have received a $100,000 grant from EPA to analyze national solid waste recycling efforts. Peretz and Bohm will collaborate on the project with David Folz, UT associate professor of political science, and Bruce Tonn, an Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher. The two year project will focus on economic and motivational barriers inherent in the current recycling system, examine the decision making processes that local solid waste managers employ, and evaluate ways in which solid waste recycling efforts have evolved over time. The results will provide researchers and decision makers with useful tools for understanding the current context of recycling in the United States. The project is administered by the Joint Institute for Energy and Environment through its cooperative agreement with EPA.