Assessing contaminated land cleanup costs and strategies

Barrieu, Pauline, Bellamy, Nadine and Sinclair-Desgagné, Bernard (2016) Assessing contaminated land cleanup costs and strategies. Applied Mathematical Modelling . ISSN 0307-904X

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Abstract

The remediation of contaminated sites is often subject to substantial cost overruns. This persistent discrepancy between estimated and realized costs is chiefly responsible for misguided land use and wasteful delays in the reconversion of former industrial sites. In order to deal with incomplete information and uncertainty in this context, this paper draws on stochastic modeling and mathematical finance methods. We show that relatively simple and usable formulas can then be derived for better assessing cleanup strategies. These formulas apply to generic remediation technologies and scenarios. They are robust to misspecification of key parameters (like the effectiveness of a prescribed treatment). They also yield practical rules for decision making and budget provisioning.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/issn/0307904X
Additional Information:	© 2016 Elsevier Inc.
Library of Congress subject classification:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD100 Land Use H Social Sciences > HG Finance Q Science > QA Mathematics
Sets:	Departments > Statistics
Date Deposited:	31 Oct 2016 14:36
URL:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/68198/

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