Model for Estimating Population Impacts Averted Through the Remediation of Contaminated Soil

Abstract

This is the second in a series of papers that discuss methodologies being developed and employed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in support of its decisions on cleanup levels for radioactively contaminated sites that are to be remediated and released for public use. It describes a model, CU-POP, designed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to obtain estimates of the potential collective radiological health impacts over specific periods of time (100, 1,000 and 10,000 y following cleanup), both on and off site, due to residual radioactive materials in on-site soil. Collective doses and risks are linear in population density for the direct exposure, dust and indoor radon inhalation, and soil ingestion pathways; it is assumed that specific fractions of all food grown and all groundwater pumped at a site are consumed by on- and off-site populations. The model was developed for application to a set of hypothetical "reference" sites; its testing on a simple generic site is discussed briefly here.

Optimized Portable Cordless Vacuum Method for Sampling Dry, Hard Surfaces for Dusts

“…(5,18,39,56,60,61) All of the hazardous agents may be resuspended into the air by people, vehicles, pets, cleaning, equipment, abatement activities, ventilation, and wind to create inhalation threats. (11,14,17,(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55)(56) Out of all of these studies, very few investigators have provided ef ciency data for sampling surface dusts. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) wipe technique ef ciency for foundry dusts on work surfaces was reported in 1984 to vary between 43 to 90 percent, depending on pressure exerted, whether wet or dry (wet wiping was more ef cient), and number of wipes (two wipes were more ef cient than one).…”

Sites in the United States Contaminated with Radioactivity

“…EPA 1993bWolbarst et al 1996). The scheme helps identify commonalities among sites, and was used by EPA to develop representative 'reference' sites for assessing the potential risks posed by such sites and determining the costeffectiveness of various cleanup levels for them (U.S. EPA 1994; Wolbarst et al 1996Wolbarst et al , 1998.…”

Thorium Nuclide Extraction and Quantitative Measurements in Minerals

“…With the radioactive pollution becoming more and more serious and the polluted sites being extended, Mineral Naturally Occurring Radioactive Pollution (MNORP) should be considered so as to serve for some oral tailings opening up [1][2][3] . Some oral tailings are the largest destination of the radioactive contaminants of Thorium which comes from some industry castoff.…”