BOEING MICHIGAN AERONAUTICAL RESEARCH CENTER/MCGUIRE MISSLE
NEW EGYPT, OCEAN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY
APPENDIX A: RADIOLOGICAL DATA REVIEW
Varied Sampling and Laboratory Techniques
According to documentation reviewed by ATSDR, annual sampling did not always follow the
same general sampling plan. Different laboratories and techniques were used, so the data quality,
number of samples, and location of measurements vary. Nevertheless, the available monitoring
results are in good agreement and they can be used to assess public health concerns and to assist
in clean-up decisions.
Estimates of Plutonium Isotopes
Weapons-grade plutonium contains various amounts of plutonium isotopes, including plutonium
239, plutonium 240, and americium 241. The Air Force calculated plutonium concentrations
based on the concentration of americium 241 detected, as determined mostly by gamma
spectrometry. ATSDR identified data quality issues that need to be addressed because gamma
spectrometry has two important sources of error.
The ratio of plutonium 239 to americium 241. The likely ratio is 5.4:1. One must
consider several things (having to do with inclusion of plutonium 240 and sample
preparation) to apply this ratio correctly. Typical laboratory procedures cannot separate
plutonium 239 from plutonium 240, because their radiation decay energies are essentially
identical. Reported ratios for the data sets reviewed are 5.9, 2.8, and 3.83. Nonetheless,
the magnitude of the possible error maintains the concentrations within a factor of two.
Small-scale distribution of debris. According to the initial observations of the accident
and early reports generated after the accident, the debris was initially distributed as
particles, which are largely insoluble. This insolubility insures little migration of the
contaminants except by physical movement. One result of this is that the material
remains heterogeneously distributed as particulate matter in the environment. This
heterogeneity is very important in the detection, fate, and transport analysis of
contamination in the environment.
Gamma radiation spectrometry assumes that the gamma emissions originate
homogeneously throughout the volume of soil being analyzed. If, despite extensive
laboratory sample preparation, the samples are not homogeneous--the plutonium and
americium are not uniformly distributed throughout the soil--large errors can be
introduced into the analysis, especially for detection of americium 241. Americium 241
has a very weak gamma ray energy that can be easily absorbed, reducing its detection
efficiency. Therefore, heterogeneous distribution of particles of nuclear material in the
soil would make the uncertainty of a single sample high. The error from the heterogeneity
can be compensated for if multiple samples from the same source are analyzed, as is
generally the case for the BOMARC site.
APPENDIX B: GLOSSARY
Absorption:
How a chemical enters a person's blood after the chemical has been swallowed,
has come into contact with the skin, or has been breathed in.
Acute Exposure:
Contact with a chemical that happens once or only for a limited period of
time. ATSDR defines acute exposures as those that might last up to 14 days.
Adverse Health Effect:
A change in body function or the structures of cells that can lead to disease
or health problems.
ATSDR:
The Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Registry. ATSDR is a federal
health agency in Atlanta, Georgia that deals with hazardous substance and
waste site issues. ATSDR gives people information about harmful chemicals
in their environment and tells people how to protect themselves from coming
into contact with chemicals.
Background Level:
An average or expected amount of a chemical in a specific environment. Or,
amounts of chemicals that occur naturally in a specific-environment.
Biota:
Used in public health, things that humans would eat - including animals,
fish and plants.
Cancer:
A group of diseases which occur when cells in the body become abnormal and
grow, or multiply, out of control
Carcinogen:
Any substance shown to cause tumors or cancer in experimental studies.
CERCLA:
See Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act.
Chronic Exposure:
A contact with a substance or chemical that happens over a long period of
time. ATSDR considers exposures of more than one year to be chronic.
Completed Exposure Pathway:
See Exposure Pathway.
Comparison Value (CVs):
Concentrations or the amount of substances in air, water, food, and soil
that are unlikely, upon exposure, to cause adverse health effects. Comparison
values are used by health assessors to select which substances and environmental
media (air, water, food and soil) need additional evaluation while health
concerns or effects are investigated.
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA):
CERCLA was put into place in 1980. It is also known as
Superfund. This act concerns releases of hazardous substances
into the environment, and the cleanup of these substances and hazardous waste
sites. ATSDR was created by this act and is responsible for looking into the
health issues related to hazardous waste sites.
Concern:
A belief or worry that chemicals in the environment might cause harm to
people.
Concentration:
How much or the amount of a substance present in a certain amount of soil,
water, air, or food.
Contaminant:
See Environmental Contaminant.
Delayed Health Effect:
A disease or injury that happens as a result of exposures that may have
occurred far in the past.
Dermal Contact:
A chemical getting onto your skin. (see Route of Exposure).
Dose:
The amount of a substance to which a person may be exposed, usually on a
daily basis. Dose is often explained as "amount of substance(s) per body weight
per day".
Dose / Response:
The relationship between the amount of exposure (dose) and the change in
body function or health that result.
Duration:
The amount of time (days, months, years) that a person is exposed to a chemical.
Environmental Contaminant:
A substance (chemical) that gets into a system (person, animal, or the environment)
in amounts higher than that found in Background Level, or
what would be expected.
Environmental Media:
Usually refers to the air, water, and soil in which chemicals of interest
are found. Sometimes refers to the plants and animals that are eaten by humans.
Environmental Media is the second part of an Exposure
Pathway.
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
The federal agency that develops and enforces environmental laws to protect
the environment and the public's health.
Epidemiology:
The study of the different factors that determine how often, in how many
people, and in which people will disease occur.
Exposure:
Coming into contact with a chemical substance.(For the three ways people
can come in contact with substances, see Route of Exposure.)
Exposure Assessment:
The process of finding the ways people come in contact with chemicals, how
often and how long they come in contact with chemicals, and the amounts of
chemicals with which they come in contact.
Exposure Pathway:
A description of the way that a chemical moves from its source (where it
began) to where and how people can come into contact with (or get exposed
to) the chemical.
ATSDR defines an exposure pathway as having 5 parts:
Source of Contamination,
Environmental Media and Transport Mechanism,
Point of Exposure,
Route of Exposure, and
Receptor Population.
When all 5 parts of an exposure pathway are present, it is called a Completed
Exposure Pathway. Each of these 5 terms is defined in this Glossary.
Frequency:
How often a person is exposed to a chemical over time; for example, every
day, once a week, twice a month.
Hazardous Waste:
Substances that have been released or thrown away into the environment and,
under certain conditions, could be harmful to people who come into contact
with them.
Health Effect:
ATSDR deals only with Adverse Health Effects (see definition
in this Glossary).
Ingestion:
Swallowing something, as in eating or drinking. It is a way a chemical can
enter your body (See Route of Exposure).
Inhalation:
Breathing. It is a way a chemical can enter your body (See Route
of Exposure).
LOAEL:
Lowest Observed Adverse
Effect Level. The lowest dose of a chemical
in a study, or group of studies, that has caused harmful health effects in
people or animals.
Malignancy:
See Cancer.
MRL:
Minimal Risk Level. An
estimate of daily human exposure - by a specified route and length of time
-- to a dose of chemical that is likely to be without a measurable risk of
adverse, noncancerous effects. An MRL should not be used as a predictor of
adverse health effects.
NPL:
The National Priorities List.
(Which is part of Superfund.) A list kept by the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) of the most serious, uncontrolled or abandoned hazardous
waste sites in the country. An NPL site needs to be cleaned up or is being
looked at to see if people can be exposed to chemicals from the site.
NOAEL:
No Observed Adverse Effect
Level. The highest dose of a chemical in a study, or group
of studies, that did not cause harmful health effects in people or animals.
No Apparent Public Health Hazard:
The category is used in ATSDR's Public Health Assessment documents for sites
where exposure to site-related chemicals may have occurred in the past or
is still occurring but the exposures are not at levels expected to cause adverse
health effects.
No Public Health Hazard:
The category is used in ATSDR's Public Health Assessment documents for sites
where there is evidence of an absence of exposure to site-related chemicals.
PHA:
Public Health Assessment.
A report or document that looks at chemicals at a hazardous waste site and
tells if people could be harmed from coming into contact with those chemicals.
The PHA also tells if possible further public health actions are needed.
Plume:
A line or column of air or water containing chemicals moving from the source
to areas further away. A plume can be a column or clouds of smoke from a chimney
or contaminated underground water sources or contaminated surface water (such
as lakes, ponds and streams).
Point of Exposure:
The place where someone can come into contact with a contaminated environmental
medium (air, water, food or soil). For examples:
the area of a playground that has contaminated dirt, a contaminated
spring used for drinking water, the location where fruits or vegetables
are grown in contaminated soil, or the backyard area where someone might
breathe contaminated air.
Population:
A group of people living in a certain area; or the number of people in a
certain area.
Public Health Assessment(s):
See PHA.
Public Health Hazard:
The category is used in PHAs for sites that have certain physical features
or evidence of chronic, site-related chemical exposure that could result in
adverse health effects.
Public Health Hazard Criteria:
PHA categories given to a site which tell whether people could be harmed
by conditions present at the site. Each are defined in the Glossary. The categories
are:
Urgent Public Health Hazard
Public Health Hazard
Indeterminate Public Health Hazard
No Apparent Public Health Hazard
No Public Health Hazard
Receptor Population:
People who live or work in the path of one or more chemicals, and who could
come into contact with them (See Exposure Pathway).
Reference Dose (RfD):
An estimate, with safety factors (see safety factor) built
in, of the daily, life-time exposure of human populations to a possible hazard
that is not likely to cause harm to the person.
Route of Exposure:
The way a chemical can get into a person's body. There are three exposure
routes:
- breathing (also called inhalation),
- eating or drinking (also called ingestion), and
- or getting something on the skin (also called dermal contact).
Safety Factor:
Also called Uncertainty Factor. When scientists don't have
enough information to decide if an exposure will cause harm to people, they
use "safety factors" and formulas in place of the information that is not
known. These factors and formulas can help determine the amount of a chemical
that is not likely to cause harm to people.
SARA:
The Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization
Act in 1986 amended CERCLA and expanded the health-related
responsibilities of ATSDR. CERCLA and SARA direct ATSDR to look into the health
effects from chemical exposures at hazardous waste sites.
Source (of Contamination):
The place where a chemical comes from, such as a landfill, pond, creek,
incinerator, tank, or drum. Contaminant source is the first part of an Exposure
Pathway.
Special Populations:
People who may be more sensitive to chemical exposures because of certain
factors such as age, a disease they already have, occupation, sex, or certain
behaviors (like cigarette smoking). Children, pregnant women, and older people
are often considered special populations.
Superfund Site:
See NPL.
Survey:
A way to collect information or data from a group of people (population).
Surveys can be done by phone, mail, or in person. ATSDR cannot do surveys
of more than nine people without approval from the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services.
Synergistic effect:
A health effect from an exposure to more than one chemical, where one of
the chemicals worsens the effect of another chemical. The combined effect
of the chemicals acting together are greater than the effects of the chemicals
acting by themselves.
Toxic:
Harmful. Any substance or chemical can be toxic at a certain dose (amount).
The dose is what determines the potential harm of a chemical and whether it
would cause someone to get sick.
Toxicology:
The study of the harmful effects of chemicals on humans or animals.
Tumor:
Abnormal growth of tissue or cells that have formed a lump or mass.
Uncertainty Factor:
See Safety Factor.
APPENDIX C: COMPARISON VALUES
Comparison values represent media-specific contaminant concentrations that are used to select
contaminants for further evaluation to determine the possibility of adverse public health effects.
The conclusion that a contaminant exceeds the comparison value does not mean that it will cause
adverse health effects.
Cancer Risk Evaluation Guides (CREGs)
CREGs are estimated contaminant concentrations that would be expected to cause no more than
one excess cancer in a million (10-6) persons exposed over their lifetime. ATSDR's CREGs are
calculated from EPA's cancer potency factors.
Environmental Media Evaluation Guides (EMEGs)
EMEGs are based on ATSDR minimal risk levels (MRLs). An EMEG is an estimate of daily
human exposure to a chemical (in mg/kg/day) that is likely to be without noncarcinogenic health
effects over a specified duration of exposure.
Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL)
The MCL is the drinking water standard established by EPA. It is the maximum permissible
level of a contaminant in water that is delivered to the free-flowing outlet. MCLs are considered
protective of public health over a lifetime (70 years) for people consuming 2 liters of water per
day.
Reference Media Evaluation Guides (RMEGs)
ATSDR derives RMEGs from EPA's oral reference doses. The RMEG represents the
concentration in water or soil at which daily human exposure is unlikely to result in adverse noncarcinogenic effects.
APPENDIX D: RADIATION AND RADIOLOGIC MATERIAL
What is radioactivity?
"Radioactive" is the word used to describe an unstable atomic nucleus that spontaneously emits
radiation. Atoms are the smallest units of an element that have the same properties as the
element. All matter is made up of atoms, and atoms are made up of protons and neutrons (found
in the nucleus of the atom) and electrons. The number of protons in an atom of a particular
element is always the same, but the number of neutrons may vary. Whether an atom is unstable
is determined by the ratio of neutrons to protons. Isotopes are forms of the same element with
different numbers of neutrons. The number of protons and neutrons in the atom are added to
name the isotope. For example, an atom of cobalt that has 27 protons and 33 neutrons is called
cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 is radioactive and is therefore called a radioisotope or a radionuclide.
What causes radioactivity?
All elements heavier than lead (which contains 83 protons) are naturally radioactive. Atoms can
also become radioactive through natural processes in the environment. (Carbon 14 is an example
of this.) Everyone is exposed to naturally occurring radiation from space and from radioactive
materials in the ground. Humans can also create radioactive atoms of most elements. (For
example, humans create radioactive atoms to use as tracers to help measure the flow of materials
in the environment.) Radioactive material can travel through the air as particles or gases and can
also enter soil, water, plants, and animals. Most radiation that people are exposed to is radon, an
alpha emitter that results from decaying uranium 238, which is found in all air.
What is radiation?
Radiation is the emission of waves or particles from an unstable atom undergoing a
transformation to stabilize the number of protons compared to the number of neutrons in its
nucleus. This transformation changes the radioactive atom into a stable atom of a different
element. For example, a proton in a cobalt-60 atom may change into a neutron and emit
radiation, leading the atom to become a nickel-60 atom.
What are alpha particles, beta particles, and gamma radiation?
Alpha particles can be emitted by atoms that are more massive than lead, such as radium. Alpha
particles are composed of two protons and two neutrons and have a large charge, which can pull
electrons off neighboring atoms (or cause them to ionize). Alpha particles cannot penetrate the
skin, but can be taken into the body by inhaling particles or ingesting foods contaminated with
alpha particles. If they enter the human body, alpha particles can be absorbed in the blood,
incorporated into molecules in the body, and deposited in living tissue. Plutonium is an alpha
emitter.
Beta particles are high-energy electrons that result from a neutron changing into a proton or a
proton changing into a neutron. Some beta particles have very little energy and cannot pass
through the dead outer layer of a person's skin, but most can do so and expose the living tissue
underneath the outer layer of skin to radiation. Beta particles cannot penetrate through the human
body, however. Exposure to beta radiation can also result from internal exposure, such as
through inhaling air or ingesting food or liquids containing beta particles.
Gamma rays result from the release of excess energy when an atom gives off an alpha or beta
particle. Gamma rays consist of moving energy and have no mass or charge. They can travel
long distances and move through the air, body tissue, or other materials. A gamma ray that
passes through a body might hit nothing inside it, but it might hit atoms in its path. Gamma rays
are the primary type of radiation that can harm people when they are exposed to a source outside
the body (external gamma radiation). Americium emits gamma rays.
Source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. 1999. Toxicological profile for ionizing radiation. September 1999.
APPENDIX E: RESPONSE TO PUBLIC COMMENTS
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) received the following
comments/questions during the public comment period (June 10 to July 25, 2002) for the
BOMARC Public Health Assessment (PHA). Comments were received from a total of three
respondents from the U.S. Air Force and the Army. Most of the comments provided new or
updated information, which ATSDR has incorporated into the PHA. ATSDR documents our
reply to two comments below.
Comment: A commenter noted that ATSDR references the International Commission on
Radiological Protection (ICRP) Publication 60 for guidance on radiological hazards. The
commenter questioned whether the ICRP Publication 60 was relevant in the context of this PHA
and U.S. Federal Radiation protection guidelines and suggested that ATSDR use ICRP
Publication 26.
Response: ATSDR is keeping the text and references to ICRP 60 in the PHA as written. It is
important to note that the ICRP 26 provides guidance on assessing worker exposures, while the
ICRP 60 provides guidance for both worker and public exposures. As described in the PHA,
some of the responders to the accident were civilian firefighting force. These responders would
not have been considered radiation workers, but members of the public. ATSDR, therefore, uses
the guidance for members of the public as provided in ICRP 60 publication to accurately assess
exposure for these responders.
Comment: A commenter noted that the 2,000 millirem (mrem) (or 20 millisievert [mSv])
average for one year's exposure cited in the PHA has not been accepted in the United States.
Response: ATSDR acknowledges that the 2,000 mrem has not been accepted in the United
States. As a non-regulatory agency, ATSDR is not restricted to any established evaluation
criteria. Rather, ATSDR made decisions about public health based upon the best available
information and guidance provided by reputable national or international organizations.
