Since 1995 CRESP has been researching ways to advance cost-effective clean up of the nation’s nuclear weapons production waste sites and test facilities. The Consortium was created  as an independent institutional mechanism to develop data and methodology to make risk a key part of its decision making at the Environmental Management Office of DOE.

Origins

As a result of a national competition, a five-year cooperative agreement was awarded to CRESP in March of 1995⁽¹⁾. CRESP Co-founders and initial management board included Drs. Bernard D. Goldstein, John A. Moore, Gilbert S. Omenn, Charles W. Powers and Arthur C. Upton in 1995. CRESP I was institutionally managed by the Environmental Occupational Health Sciences Institute in New Jersey with Bernard D. Goldstein as Principal Investigator, and Charles W. Powers as Executive Director.

Agreement renewed in 2000 (CRESP II)

The first five year cooperative agreement was renewed in 2000 with the Institute for Responsible Management as lead institution and Charles W. Powers as Principal Investigator.

The CRESP II management board included Charles W. Powers, Bernard D. Goldstein and CRESP lead research scientists Joanna Burger (Rutgers University), Michael Greenberg (Rutgers University), and David Kosson (Vanderbilt University). CRESP worked to improve the scientific and technical basis of environmental management decisions leading to advance protective and cost-effective cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons; and enhance stakeholder understanding of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites.

CRESP II pursued this work through a unique institutional model:

1. Its primary mode of operation is an unprecedented program of interdisciplinary university research;
2. It is independent and its beneficiaries are those who have a stake in effective cleanup of federal facilities;
3. It is organized to provide both guidance to and peer review of the evolving effort to utilize risk methods and evaluations to shape cleanup decisions at DOE sites.

2006 to the present (CRESP III)

CRESP III was renewed as a DOE cooperative agreement in the fall of 2006 with Vanderbilt University as the lead organization. Vanderbilt University received an additional five-year renewal for CRESP III in 2012 with David S. Kosson as principal Investigator and Charles W. Powers as co-principal investigator.

The management board membership was broadened to include a diverse set of skills and interests. The CRESP III board members include David S. Kosson, Kevin Brown and Steven Krahn (Vanderbilt University), Joanna Burger and Michael R. Greenberg (Rutgers University), Kathryn A. Higley (Oregon State University), Kimberly L. Jones (Howard University), Richard B. Stewart and Jane B. Stewart (New York University School of Law), Craig Benson (University of Wisconsin), Ronald W. Rousseau and Martha Grover (Georgia Tech).  The cooperative agreement was renewed for an additional five years in 2017. David S. Kosson continues as principal investigator.

CRESP III Objective

The objective of the CRESP III project is to advance cost-effective, risk-informed cleanup of the nation’s nuclear weapons production facility waste sites and management of potential future nuclear sites and wastes. This will be accomplished by looking for ways to improve the scientific and technical basis for DOE environmental management decisions as well as by fostering public participation.

⁽¹⁾ National Research Council (U.S.). (1994). Building consensus through risk assessment and management of the Department of Energy’s environmental remediation program. Washington, DC, National Academy Press.

CRESP II (2001-2006) – legacy website

CRESP I (1995-2000) – legacy website