Title: Human Health and Ecological Risk Assessment for the Operation of the Explosives Waste Treatment Facility at Site 300 of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Volume 1: Report of Results

Human health and ecological risk assessments are required as part of the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA) permit renewal process for waste treatment units. This risk assessment is prepared in support of the RCRA permit renewal for the Explosives Waste Treatment Facility at Site 300 of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. The human health risk assessment is based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved emissions factors and on California Environmental Protection Agency, Air Resources Board and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency risk assessment and air dispersion models. The risk assessment identifies receptors of concern and evaluates carcinogenic risk, and acutemore » and chronic noncarcinogenic hazard. The carcinogenic risk to a 30-year resident at the maximum offsite receptor location is 0.0000006 or 0.6 in one million. The carcinogenic risk to a 25-year worker at the maximum bystander on-site receptor location is also 0.0000006 or 0.6 in one million. Any risk of less than 1 in a million is below the level of regulatory concern. The acute noncarcinogenic hazard for the 30-year resident is 0.02 and the chronic noncarcinogenic hazard is 0.01. The acute noncarcinogenic hazard for the 25-year worker is 0.3 and the chronic noncarcinogenic hazard is 0.2. The point of comparison for acute and chronic noncarcinogenic hazard is 1.0, an estimate less than 1.0 is below the level of regulatory concern. The estimates of health effects are based on health conservative assumptions and represent an upper bound of the possible exposures to the receptors. For the ecological risk assessment, four receptor species were evaluated for potential detrimental effects; none were found to be adversely affected because for each species the predicted ecological hazard quotients are always less than one. Based on these results, emissions from the operations of the Explosive Waste Treatment Facility should not be considered to be of concern for human health or ecological reasons.« less

This document contains the human health and ecological risk assessment for the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA) permit renewal for the Explosives Waste Treatment Facility (EWTF). Volume 1 is the text of the risk assessment, and Volume 2 (provided on a compact disc) is the supporting modeling data. The EWTF is operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) at Site 300, which is located in the foothills between the cities of Livermore and Tracy, approximately 17 miles east of Livermore and 8 miles southwest of Tracy. Figure 1 is a map of the San Francisco Bay Area, showingmore » the location of Site 300 and other points of reference. One of the principal activities of Site 300 is to test what are known as ''high explosives'' for nuclear weapons. These are the highly energetic materials that provide the force to drive fissionable material to criticality. LLNL scientists develop and test the explosives and the integrated non-nuclear components in support of the United States nuclear stockpile stewardship program as well as in support of conventional weapons and the aircraft, mining, oil exploration, and construction industries. Many Site 300 facilities are used in support of high explosives research. Some facilities are used in the chemical formulation of explosives; others are locations where explosive charges are mechanically pressed; others are locations where the materials are inspected radiographically for such defects as cracks and voids. Finally, some facilities are locations where the machined charges are assembled before they are sent to the on-site test firing facilities, and additional facilities are locations where materials are stored. Wastes generated from high-explosives research are treated by open burning (OB) and open detonation (OD). OB and OD treatments are necessary because they are the safest methods for treating explosives wastes generated at these facilities, and they eliminate the requirement for further handling and transportation that would be required if the wastes were treated off site.« less

Human health and ecological risk assessments are required as part of the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA) permit renewal process for waste treatment units. This risk assessment is prepared in support of the RCRA permit renewal for the Explosives Waste Treatment Facility (EWTF) at Site 300 of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The human health risk assessment is based on U.S. Environmental Protection Agency- (U.S. EPA) approved emissions factors and on California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), California Air Resources Board (CARB) and U.S. EPA assessment and air dispersion models. This risk assessment identifies the receptors of concern andmore » evaluates theoretical carcinogenic risk, and theoretical acute and chronic non-carcinogenic hazard, following those guidelines. The carcinogenic risk to a 30-year resident at the maximum off-site receptor location is 0.0000006 or 0.6 in 1 million. The carcinogenic risk to a 25-year worker at the maximum bystander on-site receptor location is also 0.0000006 or 0.6 in 1 million. Any risk of less than 1 in a million is below the level of regulatory concern. The acute non-carcinogenic hazard for the 30-year resident is 0.01, and the chronic non-carcinogenic hazard is 0.01. The acute non-carcinogenic hazard for the 25-year worker is 0.3, and the chronic non-carcinogenic hazard is 0.2. The point of comparison for acute and chronic non-carcinogenic hazard is 1.0; an estimate less than 1.0 is below the level of regulatory concern. The estimates of health effects are based on health conservative assumptions and represent an upper bound of the possible exposures to the receptors. Based on these results, emissions from the operations of the EWTF should not be of concern for human health. For the ecological risk assessment (ERA), 10 receptor species (including plants), representing members of the trophic levels in the habitat of Site 300, were evaluated for the possibility of potential detrimental effects from EWTF emissions. The ecological hazard quotients (EHQs) at a location closest to the EWTF suggest a potential for adverse consequences. However, the conservatisms incorporated into the analysis may overestimate potential consequences and may explain the potential for impacts. Using less conservative values suggests that there is a possibility for limited to no additional impact to occur from the continuing operation of the EWTF.« less

No abstract prepared.

This document contains the human health and ecological risk assessment for the Resource Recovery and Conservation Act (RCRA) permit renewal for the Explosives Waste Treatment Facility (EWTF). Volume 1 is the text of the risk assessment, and Volume 2 (provided on a compact disc) is the supporting modeling data. The EWTF is operated by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) at Site 300, which is located in the foothills between the cities of Livermore and Tracy, approximately 17 miles east of Livermore and 8 miles southwest of Tracy. Figure 1 is a map of the San Francisco Bay Area, showingmore » the location of Site 300 and other points of reference. One of the principal activities of Site 300 is to test what are known as 'high explosives' for nuclear weapons. These are the highly energetic materials that provide the force to drive fissionable material to criticality. LLNL scientists develop and test the explosives and the integrated non-nuclear components in support of the United States nuclear stockpile stewardship program as well as in support of conventional weapons and the aircraft, mining, oil exploration, and construction industries. Many Site 300 facilities are used in support of high explosives research. Some facilities are used in the chemical formulation of explosives; others are locations where explosive charges are mechanically pressed; others are locations where the materials are inspected radiographically for such defects as cracks and voids. Finally, some facilities are locations where the machined charges are assembled before they are sent to the onsite test firing facilities, and additional facilities are locations where materials are stored. Wastes generated from high-explosives research are treated by open burning (OB) and open detonation (OD). OB and OD treatments are necessary because they are the safest methods for treating explosives wastes generated at these facilities, and they eliminate the requirement for further handling and transportation that would be required if the wastes were treated off site.« less