ENV 103 ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Fall 1998
CHECKING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISKS
AT CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA
Washington, DC
October 28 and November 11, 1998
For these most informative field trips around the Catholic University campus, the class was divided in half. While one half of the class attended a lab exercise in computer modeling on October 28, the other half participated in this field trip. On November 11, the two class halves reversed the process.
The field trip visited three sites on campus to demonstrate potential environmental health risks and their containment and supervision by the Environmental Health and Safety Department of the university. Each group was further divided into two groups, for ease of observation and demonstrations.
The first stop for each group was a site behind Crough Hall, where two underground gasoline holding tanks had been in place until April 1996. Since then, an outside monitoring company comes to the campus every three months to check the quality of the ground water of the surrounding areas. The District of Columbia and EPA require these checks to document the safety of the ground water.
The tanks had been buried 17 feet below the current ground level area. At the time of their removal, all surrounding contaminated soil was removed, and the area was filled with "clean" dirt, and piled to form a gentle knoll, with is covered with thick, healthy grass today. In this area, there area two "testing wells", pipes sunk into the ground to allow samples of ground water to be obtained. Several other wells are located throughout the campus grounds. Although the water will clear naturally over a period of years, documentation of this process is necessary.
The monitoring firm, Apex Environments, Inc., is a geology firm which specializes in monitoring for petroleum products. Two technicians, Brian Spain, an environmental scientist, and Steve Wandrei, a geologist, performed the sampling tests and talked to class students.
The sampling is done by lowering two polycarbonate collection pipes into the sampling wells. They remain in place for a few minutes, and then are withdrawn, containing about 250 ml. of groundwater. Three initial purges are made before the actual sample is collected, to allow for a well-mixed sample. (Residual gasoline tends to accumulate on the top of any settled water, due to its lower specific gravity.)
Results of the tests are sent to the Environmental Health and Safety Department at CUA.
The second stop (or third --- depending which group you were with!) on the exploration the main hall and then the basement of Caldwell Hall, one of the oldest buildings on campus. Ms. Michele Jayatilaka, the industrial hygienist for the university, talked with the groups about the presence of asbestos on campus and when it was or was not a dangerous substance. Asbestos is used for many reasons, including insulation, fire proofing and brake linings.
She showed students examples of asbestos in the building, or described where it could be found. Asbestos can be found in 32 different buildings across the campus, in mechanical rooms; ceiling tiles and sprayed onto other surfaces. It is present in several classroom buildings and in Seton residence hall. She emphatically emphasized that asbestos is not a problem unless it is disturbed. Even when it is disturbed, it must be airborne, and a person must be exposed to the airborne substance in quantities of 1 fiber per 1 cubic meter of air, for 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week over a period of years before health problems occur. She identified asbestos on pipes in the mechanical room of Caldwell, but noted that they were in good repair, and thus did not create a hazard. All of these pipes are identified with signage alerting anyone to the use of asbestos in their makeup.
The campus has an asbestos management observation plan, which follows EPA guidelines for any disturbance of asbestos. These guidelines require that any asbestos be removed prior to demolition or remodeling of any building. The campus makes checks of all asbestos sites at least once annually, or more frequently if there appears to be a problem. The substance has not been used in any building materials since the 1970s.
When airborne asbestos is suspected, its presence or absence is confirmed by taking air samples and examining for the fibers by using either a phase microscope (in air samples) or a polarized light microscope (surfaces). Students were reassured that the university is diligent in their monitoring for airborne asbestos. The current theory is that if there is none present, it is better to leave asbestos intact, for removal attempts can cause more problems than they solve.
The final area observed on this campus trip was again found in the basement of a building, this time the lowest level of one of the newest buildings, Hannon Hall. Don Luster, the radiation safety officer, introduced the students to one of the most interesting projects currently in progress on the campus --- the Vitrification Laboratory.
He stated that one of the "legacies" of the Cold War is a large amount of radioactive waste at various sites all over the United States. This waste product exists from the manufacture of nuclear weapons. Since most of these materials (uranium, plutonium) have half-lifes of up to 100,000 years, there is a problem in storing them safely for that period of time. CUA’s answer to this problem is to incorporate the waste within glass --- i.e., vitrification. The project, which is a pilot study, is funded by the Department of Energy, and processes radioactive waste products from Hanford, WA; Los Alamos, NM; Savannah River Plant, SC; and Ohio.
By using a smelting oven, which can reach temperature of up to 2400oF., sand is melted into a sludge. The radioactive materials are added to this sludge, and thoroughly mixed. The final product is dispensed into 5 gallon pails. These pails are allowed to cool for 1 -1.5 days, and then repackaged to be sent back to the sites for storage. There is virtually no radiation emitted at this point, and what little there is present is of the unharmful alpha types or radiation. There is little or no leeching of radiation into the soil once these vitrification products are buried.
The work is all performed in a highly controlled area, and the furnace can work 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. The program, if approved, will produce an enormous boost to the image of CUA, as the university is the only education institution performing the work.
At the conclusion of the trip, each class member wrote a 1-2 page paper, incorporating their responses to the following general questions:
The majority of responses to the questions stated that it was frightening to find out about these hazards so close to home here on campus, but most students also expressed relief at knowing how closely the school monitors these risks. By gaining knowledge of how such situations surround us constantly but how efforts are always being made to contain or improve any risks to the environment, the class achieved an appreciation for the practical aspects of applied science, particularly geology, physics and chemistry, in their everyday lives.
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