&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Research and Development (481)
Solid Waste and
Emergency Response (5102G)
EPA542-F-97-012d
November 1997
IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team
RTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
RTDF Action
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What Is the IINERT Soil-Metals
Action Team?
The In-Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies
(IINERT) Soil-Metals Action Team was established in November 1995 as
one of seven Action Teams under the Remediation Technologies
Development Forum (RTDF). The RTDF was created by the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in 1992 to foster collaboration
between the public and private sectors in developing innovative solutions to
mutual hazardous waste problems. The IINERT Soil-Metals Action Team
includes representatives from industry and government who share an interest
in further developing and validating in situ techniques as viable technologies
for eliminating the hazards of metals in soils and surficial materials.
What Are IINERT Technologies?
IINERT technologies chemically and physically inactivate soil metals found
at the Earth's surface by reducing and essentially eliminating their solubility
and bioavailability without the need for excavating the soil. In situ incorpo-
ration of chemicals—such as phosphates, mineral fertilizers, iron oxyhy-
droxides, other minerals, biosolids, limestone—changes the molecular
species of the metals. Changing a metal's molecular species can reduce its
water solubility, bioavailability, and potential toxicity to humans and the
environment. However, the total concentration of the metals may not neces-
sarily change.
The chemicals used for inactivation also may increase the fertility of the soil
and eliminate any toxicities to plants and soil organisms. Growing a plant
cover physically stabilizes the soil and its contaminants in place, which
minimizes soil erosion and off-site movement of soil and the metals it
contains. Incorporating amendments and growing plants are more natural
ways of restoring the ecology of a soil when compared to other techniques,
such as soil excavation, landfilling, soil washing, or soil capping.
Of the treatment options available for mitigating metals-contaminated soils,
in-place inactivation appears to be the most cost-effective. Additionally, it
treats the contaminant in a way that reduces the hazard posed by the soil
rather than burying it in a landfill or covering it over. In this way, degrada-
tion and contamination of other areas do not occur since soil cover and land-
fill space are not needed.
What Is the Action Team's Mission?
The mission is to develop and demonstrate in-place inactivation and natural
ecological restoration technologies that reduce and eliminate the risks to
human health and the environment of metals/metalloids in soil and to
achieve regulatory and public acceptance of these technologies.
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What Are the Action Team's Goals?
The goals of the Action Team are to:
> Understand the mechanisms by which HNERT technologies work
>• Develop appropriate testing protocols and methodologies that
illustrate their utility
>• Improve predictive capabilities
> Facilitate validation of the effectiveness and persistence of
these technologies
>• Prepare guidelines for effective implementation of these technologies
>• Gain scientific, public, and regulatory acceptance
What Activities Are Planned?
The Action Team plans to investigate the following questions:
>• What are the physical, chemical, and biological mechanisms of hazard
reduction?
>• What spectation techniques are appropriate?
>• What factors limit these technologies?
> What are the technical omissions?
>• What factors limit public acceptance?
>• What animal surrogate can be used to determine human bioavailability
from soil ingestion?
> What chemical extractions/in vitro tests, which may be used to
demonstrate hazard reduction, can lessen the need for animal feeding
studies?
Areas to be addressed include: (1) site characterization; (2) soil characteri-
zation; (3) treatment characterization and optimization; (4) hazard charac-
terization; and (5) hazard testing protocols.
What Organizations Are Represented
on the Action Team?
JU2L
ASARCO
Beazer East, Inc.
The Doe Run Company
DuPont
Environmental Management Services
ILZRO
Sevenson Environmental Services, Inc.
Kansas State University
North Carolina State
University
University of Colorado
University of Missouri
n Missouri Department of
Health
Missouri Department of
Natural Resources
U.S. Air Force
U.S. Department of Agriculture
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
KTDF
Remediation Technologies
Development Forum
Would You Like
More Information?
For more information on the IINERT Soil-
Metals Action Team, please contact:
Bill Berti, Ph.D.
DuPont Central Research and Development
Glasgow Business Community Site 301
P.O. Box 6101, Route 896
Newark, DE 19714-6101
Tel: 302-451-9224
E-mail: bill.berti@usa.dupont.com
Jim Ryan, Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
National Risk Management Research
Laboratory
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Tel: 513-569-7653
E-mail: ryan.jim@epamail.epa.gov
For information on the RTDF or other
Action Teams, please visit the RTDF World
Wide Web site at www.rtdf.org or contact:
Robert Olexsey
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
26 West Martin Luther King Drive
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Tel: 513-569-7861
E-mail: olexsey.bob@epamail.epa.gov
Walter W. Kovalick, Jr., Ph.D.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
401 M Street, SW (5102G)
Washington, DC 20460
Tel: 703-603-9910
E-mail: kovalick.walter@epamail.epa.gov
To request other RTDF fact sheets, please
write/fax to:
EPA/NCEPI
11305 Reed Hartman Highway, Suite 219
Cincinnati, OH 45241
Fax: 513-489-8695
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