Message #73: March 2003
Welcome to TechDirect. March 2003 begins the seventh year of
TechDirect delivery and our 73rd issue. TechDirect was first sent out
in late February, 1997 to around 1500 people in the United States. It
now has recipients in more than 75 countries. Since the February 1
message, TechDirect gained 273 new subscribers for a total of
16,030. We are extremely happy so many people find this service of
continuing practical use. If you feel the service is valuable, please
share TechDirect with your colleagues. Anyone interested in
subscribing to TechDirect may do so on CLU-IN atMMciMLoMtecMjreci. All
previous issues of TechDirect are archived there.
Mention of non-EPA documents or presentations does not constitute
a U.S. EPA endorsement of their contents, only an acknowledgment
that they exist and may be relevant to the TechDirect audience.
Internet Seminar
Anacostia River Capping Project - March 12. This seminar is
sponsored by the South/Southwest Superfund Hazardous Substance
Research Center. The presenters will provide an overview of
innovative capping technologies for contaminated sediments. They
will also discuss capping designs under consideration for field scale
use in the Anacostia (Washington DC) River, background on the
Anacostia, status and schedule of the demonstration project, and
experimental results on several reactive media (zero-valent iron and
coke sorbent) being considered as part of an "active cap" design. For
more information and to register, see http://clu-in.org/studio .
Documents and Websites
Status of EPA's Interim Assessment Guidance for Perchlorate.
This memorandum was issued by the U.S. EPA Office of Solid
Waste and Emergency Response. The memorandum reaffirms the
1999 interim guidance on perchlorate originally transmitted on June
18, 1999 (the "1999 Interim Guidance"). In the absence of a finalized
oral health risk benchmark for perchlorate, but in light of ongoing
assessment activities by EPA, states and other interested parties,
EPA is re-affirming the 1999 interim guidance based on a provisional
RfD range. Because an RfD represents a scientific estimate (with
uncertainty spanning perhaps an order of magnitude ) of a daily oral
exposure to a human population including sensitive subgroups which
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is likely to be without appreciable risk of adverse health effects, it
does not represent a "bright-line" between safety and risk, but
provides a starting point for risk management decisions. Because
women of childbearing age and the developing fetus are the most
sensitive receptors for perchlorate exposures, the standard adult
default body weight and water consumption factors apply in
developing a range of provisional clean-up levels. Because of the
approaches used to derive health risk benchmarks in recent
analyses, no additional adjustment for childhood exposure is
necessary (January 2002, 5 pages). View or download at
http://www.epa.aov/swerrims/docs/perchlorate/perchlorate memo.pdf . The 1999 Interim Guidance
referenced in the memorandum can be found at
http://www.epa.aov/swerrims/docs/perchlorate/interim quid perchlorate 6-99.pdf
Perchlorate Remediation Information. A new web page devoted to
perchlorate remediation has been launched on the CLU-IN site. This
page provides access to over 40 technical reports, journal articles,
web pages, and other materials from public and private sources.
Representing the latest advancements in the research and
application of perchlorate treatment technologies, these resources
provide up to date information in a number or formats including
treatability studies, cost and performance reports, case studies,
presentations, and peer reviewed literature. View and download the
perchlorate remediation resources on CLU-IN athnn://du-in.0m/nBmhiomtB.
Rutas a Tecnolog^as para Investigaci^n y Limpieza de
Terrenos Contaminados (EPA 542-B-02-001). Rutas fue creado
para una amplia gama de usuarios como ayuda a partes interesadas
en recuperar terrenos contaminados para facilitar su reutilizaci^n.
Rutas ayuda a identificar y seleccionar tecnolog^as innovadoras en
cada uno de los pasos de la recuperaci^n de terrenos contaminados
-- evaluaci^n, investigaci^n, estudio de opciones de recuperaci^n y
su diseno e implementaci^n. Cada una de sus secciones identifica
qu^ preguntas sueln surgir y qu^ informaci^n existe para ayudar a
contestarlas y tomar la mejor decision para cada sitio. Los
ap^ndices incluyen, entre otras cosas, una lista de los
contaminantes m^s comunes encontrados en terrenos
contaminados t^ picos y las tecnolog^as cuyo uso puede resultar
m^s apropiado, una gu^a detallada de los tWminos y un glosario de
t^rminos t^cnicos en espanol e ingles (febrero 2003, 170 p^ginas).
Pueden descargar Rutas en Internet desde http://clu-in.ora/techpubs.htm . This
document is also available in English. See http://clu-in.org/Roadmap .
Characterization and Remediation of Soils at Closed Small
Arms Firing Ranges (SMART-1). This document was developed by
the Interstate Technology and Regulatory Council (ITRC). The
guidance is designed to display a logical and easy-to-follow decision
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diagram for determining how best to remediate lead and
lead-contaminated soils at closed small arms firing ranges. A
decision diagram is included to assist the practitioner in formulating
a proper strategy for removing the threat that metal, particularly lead,
presents at small arms firing ranges. This decision diagram and
accompanying documentation is valuable for planning, evaluating,
and approving lead soil remediation systems (February 2003, 207
Pages). View or download at http://www.itrcweb.org/SMART-1 .pdf .
Alternative Landfill Cover Profiles On-line. Prepared by U.S.
EPA's Technology Innovation Office, this database contains
information about proposed, tested, or installed alternative design
covers at waste disposal sites, including municipal solid waste and
hazardous waste landfills and radioactive waste sites. The majority
of alternative design covers featured are evapotranspiration (ET)
covers and capillary barrier covers. As of February 2003, the
database included 56 landfills/waste sites and 85 covers (some sites
have more than 1 cover). Most of the cover projects are
demonstrations. Several are full-scale applications. To access the
profiles, visit http://cluin.org/products/altcovers .
Technology Status Report: Treatment Trains for Remediation of
Soil and Groundwater (TS-03-01). This report was produced by the
Ground-Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center
(GWRTAC). It includes an appendix that contains 48 case studies
where treatment trains were used to remediate groundwater or soil,
either in situ or ex situ. For the purposes of this document, a
treatment train was defined as the sequential use of unique
remediation technologies to treat the same volume of contaminated
soil or groundwater. Several summary tables and figures were
generated from the compiled information, and interpretive text
provided. (January 2003, 167 pages). View or download the full
report at http://www.gwrtac.org/pdf/train full.pdf For other download options, see
http://www.gwrtac.org/html/tech status.html#TRAINS .
Groundwater Central^, a new portal for Internet-based
groundwater information that consists of a resource "links" database
and several integrated communication components, was launched by
the Ground-Water Remediation Technologies Analysis Center
(GWRTAC). The "smart" search engine provides a one-stop shop to
browse for a wide variety of information from on-line publications, to
case studies, data repositories, vendors, and announcements for
events. Communication center components integrated into
Groundwater Central^ include a public discussion forum, public
events calendar, and a chat room. For more information, see
http://www.aroundwatercentral.info .
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New York/ New Jersey Harbor: Alternative Methods for Ex-Situ
Sediment Decontamination and Environmental Manufacturing.
This report, prepared by Jessica L. Wargo, an EPA National Network
of Environmental Management Studies fellow, is intended to provide
a basic summary and current status on the New York/New Jersey
Harbor Sediment Decontamination Project. The scope of the report
was developed by EPA's Technology Innovation Office and
sponsored by the MIT Washington Summer Internship Program. The
paper summarizes five of the seven technologies for which pilot
studies were performed under this project. Descriptions on each
technology, along with the decontamination efficiency and beneficial
use product are included in the report (January 2003, 58 pages).
View or download at http://clu-in.ora/techpubs.htm .
Solidification/Stabilization Website. This new web site is
dedicated to information on solidification/stabilization technology. A
major objective of this site is to provide a one-stop resource for
relevant information on using S/S treatment.. A key feature of the
site is a list of important EPA and Army Corps of Engineer
publications on solidification/stabilization. PDFs of all of these
publications are available for free on this Web site. The site also
provides a bibliography of important S/S publications in one place.
See http://www.solidificationstabilization.ora .
Conferences and Symposia
ln-situ Contaminated Sediment Capping Workshop, Cincinnati,
OH, May 12-14. This workshop, sponsored by EPA, NOAA, USACE,
the Navy, and EPRI will include presentations from regulators,
academia, and industry on site characterization; cap design; case
studies; new developments; and monitoring. It will be a national
workshop to review the science, technology and applications of
capping at contaminated sediment sites, examine lessons learned,
and discuss future directions. For registration and more information,
refer to the Electric Power Research Institute web site at
http://www.epri.com/event attachments/1686 1007587.pdf and go to Events, May 2003.
Using Science to Assess Environmental Vulnerabilities
(ReVA-MAIA) conference, May 13-15. This conference is
sponsored by the U.S EPA. Its purpose is to bring environmental
decision makers and researchers together to illustrate practical uses
of recently developed approaches, tools, and decision support
systems that can be used to assess current and future environmental
vulnerabilities. The conference will highlight research approaches
and models developed by ORD's Regional Environmental
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) program; however, all researchers
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interested in the assessment of environmental vulnerability and
environmental forecasting are invited to participate. Agenda and
registration information available at http://www.reva-maia.ora .
The Third Bi-annual Conference on Assessment and
Remediation of Contaminated Sites in Arctic and Cold Climates
(ARCSACC), Edmonton, Alberta May 4-6. This workshop was
designed to be a useful source of information to environmental
professionals working in cold climates. It is intended to provide a
forum for the exchange of information gathered through research
and project experience in Arctic and cold climate locations. The
focus of the workshop is on the assessment and remediation of
contaminated sites in cold climates. The papers to be presented
represent the issues associated with contaminated sites in cold
climates, laboratory research work, full scale project experience as
well as case studies. See http://www.civil.ualberta.ca/arcsacc/ .
NOTE: We prefer to concentrate mainly on new documents and the
internet live events. However, we do support an area on CLU-IN
where announcement of conferences and courses can be regularly
posted. We invite sponsors to input information on their events at
http://clu-in.ora/courses . Likewise, readers may visit this area for news of
upcoming events that might be of interest. It allows users to search
events by location, topic, time period, etc.
If you have any questions regarding TechDirect, contact Jeff
Heimerman at (703) 603-7191 orM™™-^ ieff@epa.gov. Remember, you
may subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription address at
httny/niu-innrnfenhrimt at any time night or day.
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