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Conventional weapons demilitarization: A health and environmental effects data base assessment: Methods for estimating multi-pathway exposures to environmental contaminants, Final report, Phase 2

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:5857290

This report describes a model that expresses human exposure using multiple exposure pathways linked to multiple environmental media. Starting with contaminant concentrations in air (as gases or attached to particles), water, and soil; the model links human exposure through inhalation, ingestion, and dermal absorption to concentrations in each environmental compartment. The concentration in a specific compartment is linked to exposure through a specific pathway using a pathway exposure factor (PEF). The PEF is a numerical expression that incorporates information on human physiology and lifestyle together with models of environmental partitioning into an expression that translates a unit concentration (mg/m/sup 3/ in air, mg/L in water, or mg/kg in soil) into a daily exposure in mg/kg-d for a specific pathway. Human, animal, and environmental data used in calculating PEFs are presented and discussed. The report provides a detailed derivation of PEFs for air/inhalation, air/ingestion, soil/inhalation, soil/ingestion, soil/dermal absorption, water/inhalation, water/ingestion, and water/dermal absorption pathways. The model is illustrated by sample applications of hypothetical arsenic, benzene, and trinitrotoluene (TNT) contamination. 42 refs., 4 figs., 20 tabs.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5857290
Report Number(s):
UCRL-21064; ON: DE89016511
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English