United States
                 Environmental Protection
                 Agency
Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory
Research Triangle Park NC 27711
                 Research and Development
EPA/600/S8-88/074  Nov. 1988
SERA        Project Summary
                  Prevention  Reference Manual:
                  Overviews on Preventing and
                  Controlling Accidental
                  Releases of  Selected Toxic
                  Chemicals


                  0. S. Davis, G. B. Oewolf, K. A. Ferland, J. D. Quass, and C O. Rueter
                   Section 305 (b) of the Superfund
                 Amendments and Reauthorization
                 Act of 1986  requires  that  the EPA
                 conduct  a "review of emergency
                 systems for  monitoring, detecting,
                 and preventing releases of extremely
                 hazardous substances at represen-
                 tative domestic facilities  that
                 produce, use, or store extremely
                 hazardous substances." The EPA
                 must also prepare and  present to
                 Congress a  report  with recom-
                 mendations  for  initiatives for the
                 development of  technologies and
                 systems for  monitoring, detecting,
                 and  preventing the accidental
                 release of chemical substances, and
                 for public alert systems that warn of
                 imminent releases.
                   The purpose of this manual  is to
                 orient  personnel   involved  In
                 inspecting and otherwise evaluating
                 potential toxic  chemical release
                 hazards  to  the  fundamentals  of
                 release hazard control for 13 of the
                 specific chemicals  chosen for
                 evaluation under  Section 305  (b). It
                 also guides the user to other
                 technical literature for additional
                 Information.
                   This  Project Summary  was
                 developed by EPA's Air and Energy
                 Engineering  Research Laboratory,
                 Research Triangle  Park, NC,  to
                 announce  key  findings of the
                 research project that  Is   fully
                 documented In a separate  report of
the same title (see Project Report
ordering information at back).

Introduction
  Following the release of  methyl
isocyanate in Bhopal, India, on December
3,1984, there has been a new urgency in
efforts to establish national programs to
address chemical  emergencies. The
Chemical  Emergency Preparedness
Program (CEPP) of the  U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
designed to  foster planning and
preparation within  communities  for
serious releases of extremely hazardous
substances from local chemical facilities,
was launched nationally in  November
1985. Concurrently, the  Chemical
Manufacturers Association  (CMA)
initiated the Community Awareness and
Emergency Response Program (CAER)
to encourage communication between
industry and local  communities about
chemical hazards. By October 1986, the
local planning encouraged on a voluntary
basis by CEPP was made mandatory by
Congressional enactment of Title III  of
the Superfund Amendments and
Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA). Title
III of SARA is entitled the "Emergency
Planning and  Community  Right-to-
Know Act of 1986.

Emergency Planning/
Right-to-Know
  The emergency planning provisions of
Title III require communities to prepare

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for the possibility of accidents at facilities
handling   extremely  hazardous
substances.  The  "community right-to-
know" provisions  require  industry to
share information  with communities
about toxic  chemicals present at local
facilities. To enable  communities to
recognize  the  potential  hazards
associated with local chemical production
or use,  Congress included  in  (Title III)
requirements  for  facilities to  report
regularly the  presence of hazardous
chemicals on site, as well as  emissions
of such  chemicals to any environmental
medium: air, water, or land (soil).
  The overall thrust of these activities is
to reduce the risk of harm to people,
while at  the same time ensuring that the
people are  aware of risks so that  they
may  take  actions of  their  own,  if
necessary, to reduce the  risks.
  The purpose of this manual is to orient
regulatory personnel and others involved
in inspecting and otherwise evaluating
potential toxic chemical  release hazards
to the fundamentals  of  release hazard
control for 13 specific  chemicals. It also
guides  the user  to  other  technical
literature for additional information.  One
purpose  is  to  assist EPA evaluation
teams in reviewing emergency systems
mandated under SARA.

Report to Congress
  Section 305(b) of SARA requires that
the EPA conduct a "review of emergency
systems  for monitoring,  detecting,  and
preventing releases  of  extremely
hazardous substances at representative
domestic facilities that produce, use, or
store extremely hazardous substances."
The EPA must also prepare and present
to Congress  a  report with  recom-
mendations for initiatives  for  the
development  of  technologies  and
systems  for monitoring,  detecting,  and
preventing  the accidental  release of
chemical substances, and for public alert
systems that warn of imminent  releases.
  To prepare the report to Congress, the
EPA is surveying  a sample of  domestic
facilities which handle one or more of 20
chemicals  selected  from the  SARA
Section 302(a)  list of   "extremely
hazardous  substances."  The  20
chemicals were selected from  the list of
extremely hazardous substances by the
following procedure. First, EPA identified
seven chemicals  distinguished by  their
large  production  volumes,  widely
recognized  hazards, involvement in past
plant  and transportation accidents, and
generally recognized  special  handling
procedures and  controls. These chem-
icals  —  ammonia,  chlorine,  hydro-
cyanic  acid  (hydrogen  cyanide),
hydrogen  fluoride, methyl isocyanate,
sulfur dioxide,  and  sulfur  trioxide —
represent a  wide  range  of  toxicity,
reactivity,  flammability, and corrosivity
hazards.
  Of the remaining  chemicals from  the
list of 20, the  13  discussed  in  this
manual,  were randomly  selected  by
EPA's Office  of Solid  Waste  and
Emergency Response from subgroups of
certain  specified criteria  (e.g., vapor
pressure,  ambient physical  state) with
the same proportion of chemicals in each
physical state as  the full list of extremely
hazardous substances. Accordingly,  two
gases, seven liquids, and four solids
were  chosen. The seven  liquids were
selected to represent  a  range  of vapor
pressures  (< 1  to  > 100 mm  Hg) at
25°C.
  A questionnaire has been sent to a
sample  of domestic facilities  which
produce, use, or store one or more of the
20 extremely hazardous substances. The
questionnaire has two purposes: (1) to
gather  additional data  on  available
technologies, and  procedures and
practices for  monitoring,  detecting,
preventing and  mitigating  accidental
releases; and  (2) to  determine which
technologies, operating procedures, and
management practices are being used,
and why.  Trained inspectors will visit a
limited number of the surveyed facilities
to obtain  in-depth information, as well
as to corroborate the survey responses.

The Manual
  This manual  provides  information
useful to  EPA inspection  or evaluation
teams for release hazards of some of  the
specific  chemicals at facilities they  will
be  visiting  and  for reviewing   survey
questionnaires from an  even  greater
number  of  facilities. In  addition   to
descriptive text, tables on  chemical and
process  specific hazards are provided to
provide easy reference for the user. This
manual is  to be used in conjunction with
other  manuals whose overall purpose is
to summarize the  major concepts  of
release hazard identification and  control
so that the probability and consequences
(risk  =  probability x consequences) of
accidental toxic  chemical  releases  can
be reduced.
  The PRM-Chemical Specific  manual
consists of a number of volumes, each
for a specific chemical, while this  manual
provides  an overview of hazard  control
for  13 toxic  chemicals:   acrylonitrile,
benzenearsonic  acid, benzotrichloride,
chloroacetic  acid,  furan,  hydrazine
hydrogen  sulfide,  mechlorethamine
methiocarb,  methyl bromide, sodiun
azide,  tetraethyl tin, and  trichloroacety
chloride.
  Since the purpose of the PRM series ii
to summarize the major  concepts  o
release hazard  control,  the  reader  i;
referred to  other information sources fo
more detailed discussions. Other source;
include manufactures and distributors  o
the  various  chemicals  and  technica
literature on loss prevention in facilities
handling toxic chemicals.   Examples  o:
technical literature include the  Americar
Institute of Chemical Engineering (AlChE]
Loss  Prevention Series  and   AlChE's
Center  for  Chemical  Process Safety
publications.
  This manual contains  four  sections
Section 1 gives  a short introduction and
background  to the manual. Section  2
discusses release  hazard control  which
begins with hazard identification and  is
the application of specific measures for
pre-release  prevention and protection,
and  post-release mitigation. In general,
many of the  technological,  operational,
and managerial aspects of hazard control
are applicable  to  toxic  chemicals  in
general. Section  3 presents an  overview
of chemical specific hazards  that  can
contribute to a release.  Topics discussed
are: physical, chemical, and toxicological
properties;  information  on   the
manufacture and use , including facility
descriptions where  appropriate; hazards
associated  with  the  various processes;
and  hazard  prevention  and control
information  specific to  the chemical.
Section 4 lists references  cited in the
report. Appendix A  is a glossary of key
technical terms that might not be familiar
to all users of the  manual. Appendix  B
presents selected  conversion factors
between  metric  (SI)  and   English
measurement units.

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  D. Davis, G. DeWolf, K. Ferland, J. Quass, and C. Rueter are with Radian Corp.,
    Austin, TX  78720-1088.
  Jane C. Bare is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
  The  complete report, entitled "Prevention  Reference Manual: Overviews  on
    Preventing and Controlling Accidental Releases of Selected Toxic Chemicals,"
    (Order No. PS 88-2/3  1941 AS; Cost: $25.95, subject  to  change) will  be
    available only from:
       National Technical Information Service
       5285 Port Royal Road
       Springfield, VA 22161
       Telephone:  703-487-4650
  The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
       Air and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory
       U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
       Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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EPA/600/S8-88/074
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