Uncertainties in determining a site-specific risk-based cleanup criteria for PCB contaminated sediment at a federal Superfund site
- Pacific Northwest Lab., Richland, WA (United States)
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) contamination was identified in stream sediments at a federal facility in Alaska. The PCBs appear to originate from a point source, with a maximum concentration of 55 mg/kg (dry wt) Aroclor 1260 found adjacent to a vehicle maintenance shop. There is a strong spatial correlation between PCB concentrations in sediment and fish tissue samples collected throughout the area; the maximum tissue concentrations were measured in fish caught in the most contaminated reach of the stream. A human health risk assessment, which employs a site-specific recreational land use scenario for the stream, estimates an excess cancer risk on the order of 10{sup {minus}3}, with the ingestion of contaminated fish as the primary risk driver. The excess cancer risk from direct contact with and ingestion of contaminated sediments was minimal. Although the sediments pose little direct risk to human health, remediation was recommended because it was assumed that the high tissue concentrations in fish were a direct result of exposure to the contaminated sediment. Existing guidelines for PCB-contaminated sediment derived from equilibrium partitioning and effects level approaches may not be relevant for this site. Another approach that has been proposed is to remediate the reach of the stream containing greater than 90% of the PCBs. This approach assumes that reducing the overall mass available for uptake by water column organisms would, over time, lead to a reduction in the average concentration of PCBs in the fish population.
- OSTI ID:
- 211933
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9617%%249
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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