[en] A listing is provided of publications and presentations made by the staff or contractors of the Health and Environmental Risk Analysis Program of the Office of Health and Environmental Research

[en] The performance of anaerobic biological process is heavily process conditions dependent. In this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the influence of process conditions like temperature, sludge age and hydraulic retention time (HRT) on the efficiency of an upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) reactor and upflow anaerobic sludge filter (UASF) to treat combined industrial wastewater. Reactors were operated at easing ambient temperatures (38, 30, 20 and 14 deg. C) and correspondingly increasing sludge ages (60, 90, 120 and 150 days). At temperature 38 deg. C and sludge age of 60 days, UASF showed better performance than VASE reactor. This mainly due to the enhanced filtration through well-graded sand filter and fairly good biological activity in UASF. At this stage, lack of sludge granulation in VASE reactor resulted in poor biological activity; hence, relatively poor performance. At temperatures 30 and 20 deg. C with sludge ages of 90 and 120 days, respectively, UASB gave better results than UASF. The reason was rapid biological degradation due to proper sludge granulation and favorable temperature. At temperature 14 deg. C, a substantial decrease in the efficiency of UASB reactor as compared to the UASF was evident. Drop in efficiency was because of inhabitation of methanogenic bacteria and liquidation of sludge granules. These factors mounted to a decrease in biological activity, stoppage as production and an increase in total suspended solids (TSS) in the effluent. The influence of hydraulic retention time (ranging between 3-12 hours at an increment of 3 hours) on the removal efficiency of both UASB and UASF was not significant. At favorable temperature (20 to 30 deg. C) and sludge age (90 to 120 days) UASB reactor appeared to be more efficient than UASF.(author)

[en] The French authority for nuclear safety requests the French institute of radiation protection (IRSN) to perform impacts assessment for the chemical discharges from nuclear facilities in the context of licensing operator. To carry out its mission, IRSN developed assessment methods and a computer tool named CALIES (CALcul d'Impact Environnemental et Sanitaire des rejets d'effluents chimiques liquides et gazeux - Risk assessment for environment and population). (author)

[en] Chemical pollution is one of the risks of industrialization. Daily there emerge a great deal of chemical compounds and it is necessary to asses the risk they might suppose to the environmental and/or human health. Till recently, the toxicity tests of the chemicals or their transformation products, were carried out using individuals of a few species. This approach doesn't seem correct because it ignores the relations that are stablished at the ecosystem level. Microcosms pretend to be an adecuated tool for the ecotoxicologicals tests. This review presents two different parts: in the first one, we show the possible applications of microcosms, in the second one, we present the validation and evaluation of the soil core microcosm, following the works done by EPRI and EPA. It would be interesting to assess and validate the soil core microcosm using it with fumigation of atmospheric pollutant in controlled environment and subsequently compare the results obtained in the laboratory with those obtained in the field. We think that this approach, along with other, techniques, may be useful. (Author) 37 refs

[en] Miscellaneous streams discharging to the soil column on the Hanford Site are subject to requirements of several milestones identified in Consent Order No. DE 9INM-177 (Ecology and DOE 1991). The Plan and Schedule for Disposition and Regulatory Compliance for Miscellaneous Stream (DOE/RL-93-94) provides a plan and schedule for the disposition of miscellaneous streams to satisfy one of the Section 6.0 requirements of the Consent Order. One of the commitments (Activity 6-2.2) established in the plan and schedule is to annually update, the miscellaneous streams inventory. This document constitutes the 1998 revision of the miscellaneous streams inventory. Miscellaneous stream discharges were grouped into four permitting categories (Table 1). The first miscellaneous streams Permit (ST 4508) was issued May 30, 1997, to cover wastewater discharges from hydrotesting, maintenance, and construction activities. The second miscellaneous streams Permit (ST4509) covers discharges from cooling water and condensate discharges. The third permit application for category three waste streams was eliminated by recategorizing waste streams into an existing miscellaneous streams permit or eliminating stream discharges. Elimination of the third categorical permit application was approved by Ecology in January 1997 (Ecology 1997). The fourth permit application, to cover storm water, is due to Ecology in September 1998. Table 1 provides a history of the miscellaneous streams permitting activities

[en] The present research was conducted to assess the feasibility of using two kinds of industrial wastes as opacifiers in porcelain tile bodies, as well as to define what pre-treatment would be required to prepare the wastes for such use. The characteristics of the wastes were analysed, first, to determine their chemical and mineralogical composition, as well as their behaviour when subjected to heat, in order to identify any undesirable substances and to establish suitable conditions for removing these with simple methods. This allowed suitable materials to be obtained for use in porcelain tile compositions. The effects were then studied of the incorporation of these pre-treated waste materials on porcelain tile characteristics. The results obtained indicate that the two waste materials used in this research have a significant opacifying capability, which makes them of great interest as possible raw materials for products that are not required to have maximum whiteness values. The only drawback detected in one of these wastes was that the porcelain tile composition needed to be slightly adjusted in order to ensure that its behaviour during firing did not change. (Author) 6 refs.

[en] The paper discusses the rapid development of scientific and technological revolution in the second half of twentieth century and the widespread increase of radioactive background of planet, the saturation of Earth biosphere by electromagnetic fields, environmental pollution by many synthetic chemicals, emissions to the environment by the industry, sustainable excess number of people dying over the number born. In the spotlight is the issue of human health and how to maintain it. (author)

[en] In the vicinity of urban and industrial areas, pollution of atmospheric air by vehicles and industries is a persistent environmental health hazard, where toxic gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, unburnt hydrocarbons, particulate matter, and soot are generally found in abundance. As a result of the population explosion, accelerated urbanization, and continuous industrialization, new environmental problems like those of greenhouse effects, ozone layer depletion, acid rains, and the increased use of pesticides are being created. There is a great risk of high air pollution due to the lack of effective control measures through catalyzers in the vehicles and filters in chimneys of the industries. These gaseous pollutants affect not only the cities but also drift to rural areas and have fallout effects causing injury to plants and resulting in crop losses. There is an urgent need to survey the extent of air pollution at the ground level, especially adjacent to areas of heavy traffic and industries, so that air pollutant levels in the affected areas remain within the tolerance limits. (author)

No abstract available

[en] Contamination of the environment with industrial chemicals and/or effluent has become a major problem. In this study, the toxicity of an NNPC refinery effluent was tested by exposing a commonly occurring invertebrate, Chironomus sp. (early larva stage) using the 96-h static bioassay to establish the LC₅0 value. Seed extract from a widely distributed tropical plant, moringa oleifera was used to treat the effluent employing a modified laboratory jar test procedure. Hardness and alkalinity were reduced to between 19 and 30% with reduction found to be dose-dependent. Adsorption isotherms were established and were found to approximate the Langmuir type. Char from M. oleifera seed husks was also used to test the sorption of toxicants. A single toxicant from the effluent phenol, was used for sorption studies using pseudo-equilibrium batch contact experiments. Sorption was found to obey a Freundlich type adsorption isotherm (of the form q = KC), Retesting the toxicity of the effluent by re-introducing a different set of the test organism after treatment yielded no significant mortality. Moringa oleifera seed extract, char and possibly activated carbon from seed husks hold a promise to further reduction of the toxicity of refinery effluent