Engineered Nanomaterials, Sexy New Technology and Potential Hazards

Conference · Mon May 04 00:00:00 EDT 2009

OSTI ID:953301

Beaulieu, R A

Engineered nanomaterials enhance exciting new applications that can greatly benefit society in areas of cancer treatments, solar energy, energy storage, and water purification. While nanotechnology shows incredible promise in these and other areas by exploiting nanomaterials unique properties, these same properties can potentially cause adverse health effects to workers who may be exposed during work. Dispersed nanoparticles in air can cause adverse health effects to animals not merely due to their chemical properties but due to their size, structure, shape, surface chemistry, solubility, carcinogenicity, reproductive toxicity, mutagenicity, dermal toxicity, and parent material toxicity. Nanoparticles have a greater likelihood of lung deposition and blood absorption than larger particles due to their size. Nanomaterials can also pose physical hazards due to their unusually high reactivity, which makes them useful as catalysts, but has the potential to cause fires and explosions. Characterization of the hazards (and potential for exposures) associated with nanomaterial development and incorporation in other products is an essential step in the development of nanotechnologies. Developing controls for these hazards are equally important. Engineered controls should be integrated into nanomaterial manufacturing process design according to 10CFR851, DOE Policy 456.1, and DOE Notice 456.1 as safety-related hardware or administrative controls for worker safety. Nanomaterial hazards in a nuclear facility must also meet control requirements per DOE standards 3009, 1189, and 1186. Integration of safe designs into manufacturing processes for new applications concurrent with the developing technology is essential for worker safety. This paper presents a discussion of nanotechnology, nanomaterial properties/hazards and controls.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 953301
• Report Number(s): LLNL-CONF-412815; TRN: US0902742
• Resource Relation: Conference: Presented at: 2009 Safety Analysis Workshop, Las Vegas, NV, United States, May 08 - May 14, 2009
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
42 ENGINEERING
ABSORPTION
ANIMALS
BLOOD
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL PROPERTIES
CHEMISTRY
DEPOSITION
ENERGY STORAGE
EXPLOSIONS
LUNGS
MANUFACTURING
NEOPLASMS
PURIFICATION
SAFETY
SAFETY ANALYSIS
SOLAR ENERGY
SOLUBILITY
TOXICITY