&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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Sediments Remediation
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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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