CalTOX (trade name): A multimedia total exposure model for hazardous waste sites (for microcomputers). Software

Technical Report · Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994

OSTI ID:6596128

CalTOX is a multimedia, multiple pathway risk assessment model. The release of version 1.5 of CalTOX marks the end of the first phase of its implementation. The technical basis of CalTOX has undergone extensive scientific peer-review and the model has been encoded into an EXCEL spreadsheet. The second phase of the implementation of CalTOX, development of guidance on the application of the model will be fully implemented by Sept. 1995. CalTOX relates concentration of chemical in soil to the risk of an adverse health effect for a person living or working on or near the contaminated soil. This permits computation of health based soil remediation levels given target risk levels or assessment of human health risk given soil concentrations. CalTOX is an extension of the process described in the Human Health Evaluation Manual that is part of the Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund published by the US EPA RAGS provides equations for estimating theoretical human health risk from known chemical concentrations in air, water, soil and food that are inhaled, ingested or dermally contacts. CalTOX extends RAGS in three ways. First, CalTOX relates the chemical concentration in the contacted air, water, soil and food to chemical concentrations in contaminated soil. This relationship is established through transport/transformation equations. These equations predict time-dependent concentrations in surface soil, air, surface water, sediment and plants based on the starting concentrations in the soil. The transport equations are based on conservation of mass and chemical equilibrium. The transport equations in combination with the RAGS equations link soil concentration and human health risk. Second, CalTOX treats uncertainty differently than RAGS. RAGS requires the use of 'reasonable maximal exposure' input parameter values to compute a single upper bound estimate of risk. CalTOX is designed to be used with a spreadsheet add-in program capable of conducting Monte Carlo simulations.

• Research Organization: California Environmental Protection Agency, Sacramento, CA (United States). Office of Scientific Affairs
• OSTI ID: 6596128
• Report Number(s): PB-95-500146/XAB
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Ordering information for each version: (A) 3 1/2 inch diskette for Macintosh (order number PB--95-500153) or (B) 3 1/2 inch diskette for Windows (order number PB--95-500146). Both diskette versions are the same price: $250 for U.S., Canada, and Mexico, $500 for other areas. See also PB--93-500353, PB--93-505915, PB--94-502200, PB--93-505154, PB--93-505295, PB--93-504967, and PB--93-504959
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS//MATHEMATICS, COMPUTING, AND INFORMATION SCIENCE
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE PATHWAY
HEALTH HAZARDS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
RISK ASSESSMENT
SOILS
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
HAZARDS
MATERIALS
SIMULATION
290300* - Energy Planning & Policy- Environment
Health
& Safety
990200 - Mathematics & Computers