Prioritisation of contaminated sites

Research Project, 2025 – 2030

The aim of the project is to:

- Develop a risk-based method and tool (software) for the choice of measures and prioritisation of contaminated areas that meet desirable principles for managing the state's environmental debt in accordance with the Swedish Transport Administration's appropriation letter.

- The method and tool will replace the third step in PRIOR but not the early stages of inventory and general survey, i.e. PRIOR I and II. The choice of measures and prioritisation shall be based on a risk assessment in accordance with current guidance material from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency and the Swedish Geotechnical Institute, where sustainability aspects are clearly evaluated.

- It should be possible to prioritise between remedial solutions, contaminated areas and different types of land use based on land use, future societal development, risks of natural disasters, climate change and opportunities for coordinated measures within and between different areas. Specific goals to achieve the purpose of the project are that such a method and tool are developed with:
1. clear consideration of the characteristics of the source of the hazard(s) within a contaminated site (types of pollution, extent of pollution);
2. clear division into acute and long-term risks,
3. clear to both health and ecological risks as well as additive effects both between different sources of risk and between different types of pollution within a contaminated area
4. a clear focus on the characteristics of the protected objects (vulnerability, type and extent of consequences);
5. the inclusion of pathways of spread and exposure in accordance with the usual principles for risk assessment in contaminated areas; 6. consideration of natural disasters, changes in the climate and other events and circumstances that may affect the risk over time, 7. consideration of planning conditions within and adjacent to contaminated areas, i.e. planned future land development,
8. consideration of economic, social and environmental sustainability in remedial solutions.
9. a guide for the practical application of the tool, and
10. good examples.