ABSTRACT
Risk analysis came to the fore in response to the logical assertion that everything people do is risky and that no collection of environment, health, and safety laws and regulations can realistically reduce these risks to zero. Considerations of risk occur at many places during the life cycle of a technology. For instance, risk analysis is used during the research, design, and development phases of a technological project to estimate its feasibility. It is important to understand the basic nature of risk analysis and how it is used within the regulatory framework. In some cases, risk analysis is extremely inflexible in application. An example is the use of zero risk as a decision-making criterion under the requirements of the Delaney Clause. Layton et al. performed a health and environmental risk assessment on geothermal energy. Hydrogen sulfide is the most significant public health issue related to geothermal energy.
