The impact of EPA`s Dioxin Reassessment on waste-to-energy risk assessments
- Weinberg Group Inc., Washington, DC (United States)
Since the mid-1980s, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been attempting to develop a comprehensive mathematical model to be used for regulatory risk assessment. One expression of this model was published by EPA in a 1994 draft Dioxin Reassessment document. The Dioxin Reassessment includes algorithms for performing site-specific risk assessments of combustion sources that differ from those considered to be state-of-the-art in the late 1980s. This paper presents the results of a study that was performed to investigate the impact of EPA`s Dioxin Reassessment on potential human health risks associated with a modern waste-to-energy (WTE) facility. The study evaluated risks associated with a WTE facility equipped with modern air pollution controls using EPA`s methods published in the Dioxin Reassessment and using methods that prevailed prior to the Reassessment`s publication. Although the facility complies with the maximum achievable control technology (MACT) rule for municipal solid waste combustors, the analysis showed that the methodologies presented in the 1994 Dioxin Reassessment produce risks that are up to several orders of magnitude higher than those predicted using earlier state-of-the-art techniques. The most significant risk factors were found to be: (1) the method used to predict wet deposition fluxes including the location of the wet deposition maximum impact point; (2) the surface water model construction and parameterization, and (3) the requirement to include pathways not currently present but rather only based on future land use.
- OSTI ID:
- 353597
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-970677--
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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