CASE HISTORY REVIEW—DEMILITARIZATION COMBUSTION PERMITS*

Abstract

In May 1993, Administrative Browner of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) announced that an indirect exposure health risk assessment was required for all hazardous waste combustion facilities seeking a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit. These types of risk assessments evaluate the health and environmental effects from inhalation of emissions (direct exposure) and from contact with environmental media and consumption of food products impacted by the emissions (indirect exposure). Completion of an indirect exposure risk assessment is often complicated by the various methodologies available for generating results and by the requirements of the regulating community. To minimize this complexity and to maximize consistency between risk assessments, the USEPA developed a number of detailed guidance documents. Site-specific conditions and toxicological data gaps, however, continue to present challenges not addressed by these guidance documents. This paper presents some of the specific challenges encountered by the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine when performing indirect exposure health risk assessments for several demilitarization combustion facilities.

Notes

*This effort was supported in part by the Henry M. Jackson Foundation through a grant from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and the USACHPPM.