Office of Research and Development National Exposure Research Laboratory Photo image area measures 2” H x 6.93” W and can be masked by a collage strip of one, two or three images. The photo image area is located 3.19” from left and 3.81” from top of page. Each image used in collage should be reduced or cropped to a maximum of 2” high, stroked with a 1.5 pt white frame and positioned edge-to-edge with accompanying images. The History and Scientific Rationale for Environmental Compliance: “E101 for the Safety Professional” Daniel A. Vallero, Ph.D.
84
Embed
Office of Research and Development National Exposure Research Laboratory Photo image area measures 2 H x 6.93 W and can be masked by a collage strip of.
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory
Photo image area measures 2” H x 6.93” W and can be masked by a collage strip of one, two or three images.
The photo image area is located 3.19” from left and 3.81” from top of page.
Each image used in collage should be reduced or cropped to a maximum of 2” high, stroked with a 1.5 pt white frame and positioned edge-to-edge with accompanying images.
The History and Scientific Rationale for Environmental Compliance:
“E101 for the Safety Professional”
Daniel A. Vallero, Ph.D.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 2
Environmental Protection: A Child of the ’60s
Systematic mandates from NEPA:•EIS•CEQ
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 3
Scale Is Crucial
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 4
Regulatory Focus Varies
• Policy– National consistency– Command and control
• Technology (Clean Air Act in the 1990s; RCRA; TSCA)• Risk
– Assessment (science)– Management (policy)– Communication (everything)– Residual risk (Clean Air Act now)– Safe products (TSCA/FIFRA)– Health based standards (Clean Water and Safe Drinking Water Acts)– Manifests (RCRA, Right to Know)– Response (Superfund, Contingency Plan, Spill Response…)
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 5
All Engineering Codes of Ethics have canons requiring the engineer to:
Hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 6
Mission of Engineers(Adapted from: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, State University of New York at Stony Brook)
• The engineer must envision and allow for the creation of something, following certain specifications, which performs a given function.
• What we design must perform its function without fail.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 7
But eventually, everything fails…
• So, designers must strive to avoid failure, in all of its forms.• In particular, we must avoid catastrophic failures:
– loss of designed property or properties potentially affected by the application of the design;
–damage to the environment where the design is applied, and;–Most importantly injury and loss of life.
• Modern designers can learn what to do and NOT to do to create designs with less of a chance of failure.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory
Thus,
• Engineers are risk managers.• Managing risks depends on the science on which decisions can be based.
• That science is in the risk assessment.• Safety and environmental compliance are complementary.–Both require standards–Both work within ranges of acceptability
8
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 9
Example of Range of Acceptability
–Design of a barrier under a waste facility may reduce the flow of water carrying hazardous materials to 10-9 m s –1
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 10
Design Success
Clay liner
Water Table
ContaminantsContaminants
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 11
Example of Range of Acceptability
–Design of a barrier under a waste facility may reduce the flow of water carrying hazardous materials to 10-9 m s –1
–But, it does not eliminate the flow entirely–The designer must keep the flow rate low
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 12
Design Success
Clay liner
Water Table
Contaminants
Contaminants
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 13
Example of Range of Acceptability
–Design of a barrier under a waste facility may reduce the flow of water carrying hazardous materials to 10-9 m s –1
–But, it does not eliminate the flow entirely–The designer must keep the flow rate low –Catastrophic failure at Q = 10-2 m s –1!
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 14
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 15
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 16
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 17
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 18
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 19
Perception is crucial
•Which line is longer?
The Müller-Lyer Illusion.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 20
But sometimes, perception is pretty accurate….
Source: Pardon, ca. 1970.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 21
Risk Perception
• Failures become "disasters" as a function of public perception of risk. –For example, in 1992, same number of U.S. fatalities in
transportation accidents involving airplanes (775), trains (755), and bicycles (722).
–Public perception of the risk from air travel is often much higher than that for trains and bicycles.
• Two apparent reasons: – large loss of life and associated media attention from an air crash,
and –air passenger's lack of control over their environment in the case
of air or, to a lesser degree, rail accidents. • But there are many reasons behind these perceptions
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 22
Risk Communication
Report
Data True Meaning(Signal)
Data Reduction
Interpretation (Information)
S/N = ∞
ReportReportReportReportReportReportReportReport
?
Noise
S/N = Low
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 23
Absorption, Distribution Metabolism, Elimination and Toxicity (ADMET) ModelingUncertainties:•Age, gender, lifestyle differences•Physiological variability•Physicochemical and biochemical variabilities
Absorption, Distribution Metabolism, Elimination and Toxicity (ADMET) ModelingUncertainties:•Age, gender, lifestyle differences•Physiological variability•Physicochemical and biochemical variabilities
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 60
p(Health = “Poor”p(Health = “Poor” | N inputs = “X”)| N inputs = “X”)
SedimentOxygenDemand
Duration of Stratification
RiverFlow
AlgalDensity
Carbon Production
Frequency of Hypoxia
Number ofFishkills
NitrogenInputs
FishHealth
ChlorophyllViolations
HarmfulAlgal Blooms
ShellfishAbundance
Once the model is complete, conditional
probabilities can easily be computed.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 61
0
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Exceedance Frequency (%)
Pro
bab
ility
Den
sity
Example of how outcomes can be predictedExample of how outcomes can be predicted
90%90% Risk Riskof Exceedanceof Exceedance
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 62
50%50% Risk Riskof Exceedanceof Exceedance
90%90% Risk Riskof Exceedanceof Exceedance
Example of how outcomes can be predictedExample of how outcomes can be predicted
0
0.04
0.08
0.12
0.16
0.2
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Exceedance Frequency (%)
Pro
ba
bili
ty D
en
sity
No Action
45% Nutrient reduction
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 63
Application: Fecal-origin pathogen exposure
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 64
New emphases
•Multimedia, compartmental• Interfaces and integrations
–Human and Ecosystem–Time and Space
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 65
Emerging Technologies
• Always a part of engineering• Balance between innovation and carelessness…• Ignorance is not an option, nor is ignoring the breakthroughs….
• So, we need to manage the risks and take advantage of the opportunities.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 66
Nanotechnology – Good or Bad?
• Answer: Yes…• Things are different down there.• Carbon is not carbon….
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 67
Key Questions Associated with Nanomaterials
• What is the extent of exposure to the stressor for humans and ecosystems? …. acceptable level of uncertainty of the exposure estimates?
• Are the exposure concentrations higher or lower than the risk level for the contaminant?
• What technologies exist, which technologies can be modified, and which technologies need to be developed to detect and monitor releases of and exposure to engineered materials?
• What physical and chemical properties and processes determine the environmental fate, release, and transport of engineered nanomaterials?
• What techniques and tools exist, can be modified, or need to be developed for detecting and predicting the hazards of engineered materials?
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 68
Membranes
Adsorbents
Oxidants
Catalysts
Sensing
Analytical
The Good: Nanomaterial-enabled tools for environmental engineers*
*Thanks to Mark Wiesner.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 69
Conventional ‘permeable reactive barrier’ made with millimeter-sized construction-grade granular Fe
Tratnyek and Johnson (2005)
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 70
‘Reactive treatment zone’
• Formed by sequential injection of nano-sized Fe• Makes overlapping zones of particles adsorbed to the grains of native aquifer material
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 71
Treating much more mobile contaminants
• Same approach can be used to treat nonaqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) contamination by injection of mobile nanoparticles
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 72
The Bad: Nanomaterials themselves can change physical and chemical behavior and may be hazardous.
• Much variability in mobility of nanoparticles even in the same size range (Wiesner again)
nanoparticle mobility
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
0 2 4 6 8 10
V/Vp
C/C
o
Silica 57nm
Silica 135nm
Anatase 198nm
Alumox 74nm
Ferrox 303nm
Tracer
Cha
nge
in c
once
ntra
tion
[1-C
/C0
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 73
And, toxicity is even more uncertain…
Human cell line toxicity (Sayes, Colvin, et al., 2004)
toxic but not mobile
COOHHOOC
HOOC
HOOC
HOOC
COOH
OHOH
OH
OH
HO
HO
OH
OHHO
HO
HOOH
OHHO
OHOH
HO
HO
OHHO
OH
O
OH
O
O
Na
Nanot toxic, but mobile
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 74
Environmental Justice
• Toxic Waste and Race (United Church of Christ study)• Found direct correlation between minority population and
likelihood of waste site• EJ neighborhood defined:
–Disproportionate exposure to contaminants–SES and racial makeup
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 75
Unique challenges of EJ
• Historically, communities have had little or no “voice”• So, the prototypical environmental response models don’t work well–Based upon complaints
• Must deal with trust issues• … and disenfranchisement.• So, we need a different paradigm
–Intervention–Outreach and how we report what we find.
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 76
EJ: Culture Is Crucial
Left: Brick making kiln in Ciudad Juarez. Right: El Paso-Ciudad Juarez airshed during a thermal inversion.
Photo credit: Environmental Defense
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 77
But sometimes, EJ is less obvious (but more ubiquitous)
• Vinclozolin, a fungicide, is an endocrine disruptor• But two of its degradation products are even more anti-
androgenic than the parent vinclozolin• How are people exposed?
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 78
Time integrated dicarboximide flux from sterilized soil with pore water pH7.5, after incorporation of 5mL of 2g L-1 fungicide suspension and a 2.8mm rain event (95% CI).
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 79
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
1 55 450 1020
T im e s ince sp ray event (m in)
Flu
x (n
g m
-2 h
r-1)
Vincloz olin
M 1-but enoic acid
M 2-enanilide
3,5-dichloroaniline
Time integrated dicarboximide flux from non-sterile soil with pore water pH7.5, after incorporation of 5mL of 2g L-1 fungicide suspension and a 2.8mm rain event (95% CI).
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 80
Worker and family exposures shortly after field re-entry:
• Greater inhalation exposures to more toxic endocrine disruptors in first few hours.
• Farm worker and family activities are determinants of risk
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
155 450 1020
Time since spray event (min)
Flu
x (n
g m
-2 hr
-1)
Vinclozolin
M1-butenoic acid
M2-enanilide
3,5-dichloroaniline
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 81
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 82
The Truth
• Scientists search for truth.• Engineers put these truths to work.• Integrity requires that we be open and honest about what we do not know (ala Socrates).
• And, we must be open-minded to new paradigms.• The one requirement of science is that the truth be told at all times (C.F. Snow).
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory 83
The Very Bottom Line
• Need a balance between risk assessment and risk management.
• Must account for differences between risk assessment and risk perception.
• Hold paramount safety and health–largely by limiting exposures
Office of Research and DevelopmentNational Exposure Research Laboratory
Photo image area measures 2” H x 6.93” W and can be masked by a collage strip of one, two or three images.
The photo image area is located 3.19” from left and 3.81” from top of page.
Each image used in collage should be reduced or cropped to a maximum of 2” high, stroked with a 1.5 pt white frame and positioned edge-to-edge with accompanying images.