Summary

A NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) was conducted from November 6-10, 1995 in Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic. This ARW was focused on the technical, institutional, and socio-economic implications of soil and groundwater remediation in central and eastern Europe. The five-day duration of the meeting provided an excellent forum for the forty-one delegates to discuss, on both formal and informal bases, the existing situations in central and eastern Europe with regard to a wide range of issues. As well, the meeting period included technical 'site visits to Chodos and Vresova, in the Czech Republic. The discussed issues included (i) development of an understanding of the extent of existing environmental hazards, (ii) the remediation methodologies currently being employed, (iii) the existing exposure risks to humans and the environment, and (iv) the alternative procedures for dealing with the distribution of costs for any necessary remediation, while creating incentives to reduce future pollution generation. With the complications and difficulties of dealing with these issues, there was never a shortage of points for discussion.