Credit: U.S. Department of Energy

TSCA Incinerator

The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) evaluated environmental health issues related to contaminants released from the "Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) Incinerator" at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Oak Ridge Reservation (ORR) in Roane County, Tennessee.

ATSDR found that the TSCA Incinerator releases very small amounts of contaminants into the environment, but the amounts are far below levels associated with health effects. Continued operation of the TSCA Incinerator is not expected to cause harmful exposures because numerous safeguards, pollution controls, and strict permitting requirements are in place to prevent unsafe operating conditions from occurring. Therefore, the assessment concludes that the TSCA Incinerator is not a public health hazard.

The assessment also responded to specific community health concerns about the TSCA Incinerator and made recommendations to help ensure that the incinerator continues to operate safely in the future.

TSCA Incinerator Public Health Assessment - Final Version (12/05) (HTML)
Complete final report of the TSCA Incinerator Public Health Assessment. For a print-friendly version of the public health assessment, download the PDF version.

TSCA Incinerator Technical Summary (PDF, 217 KB)
Fact sheet summaries ATSDR's TSCA Incinerator Public Health Assessment.

Exposure
This fact sheet answers questions about chemical exposures.

What is a Public Health Assessment?
An ATSDR Public Health Assessment reviews available information about hazardous substances at a site and evaluates whether exposure to them might cause any harm to people.

A Citizen's Guide to Risk Assessments and Public Health Assessments at Contaminated Sites
Provides an overview of two different assessments commonly performed at hazardous waste sites. These are the risk assessment and the public health assessment; both are required for all sites—commonly referred to as "Superfund" sites—listed on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) National Priorities List (NPL).

Environmental and Occupational Medical Resources Fact Sheet
Fact sheet on available medical resources to provide guidance to persons seeking medical assistance for an environmentally or occupationally related illness or injury.

Programs

State Agency Links
List of ATSDR state cooperative agreement partners.