Effluents, chemical analysis

A second source of plutonium, dispersed more locally, is liquid effluent from fuel reprocessing facilities. One such is the fuel reprocessing plant at Windscale, Cumbria in the United Kingdom where liquid waste is released to the Irish Sea(6). Chemical analysis of this effluent shows that about one percent or less of the plutonium is in an oxidized form before it contacts the marine water(7). Approximately 95 percent of the plutonium rapidly adsorbs to particulate matter after discharge and deposits on the seabed while 5 percent is removed from the area as a soluble component ). Because this source provided concentrations that were readily detected, pioneering field research into plutonium oxidation states in the marine environment was conducted at this location. 

LUNDGREN STRIDH Chemical Analysis of Fire Effluents... 

Residual heavy metals and organo-chlorine pesticides represent two well-known pollution problems. Sensitive and accurate analysis is required to enable the distribution and level of a pollutant in the environment to be assessed and routine chemical analysis is important in the control of industrial effluents. 

Sources 1 J.M. Leach and A.N. Thakore, Toxic Constituents in Mechanical Pulping Effluents , Tappi, 1976, 59, 2, pp. 129-132. 2 L.T.K. Cheng, H.P. Meier and J.M. Leach, Can Pulp-mill Effluent Toxicity be Estimated from Chemical Analysis , Tappi, 1979, 62, pp. 71-74. 3 J.M. Leach and L.T.K. Chung, Development of a Chemical Toxicity Assay for Pulp Mill Effluents , US EPA Publication, No. EPA-600/2-80-206, US Environmental Protection Agency, Cincinnati. 

In Estonia the monitoring of effluents is based on chemical analysis. The list of controlled water quahty parameters depends on the type of industry. Bioassays are not used as a monitoring tool. However, according to HELCOM Recommendations No. 16/5, Requirement for discharging of waste water from the chemical industry, and No. 16/10, Reduction of discharges and emission from production of textiles, the toxicity effect of discharges into water bodies should be determined by (at least) two toxicity tests, which could be chosen out of the following four toxicity tests [203] ... 

Sampling and chemical analysis except as required for disposal of miscellaneous effluents and wastes... 

Doi, J. and Grothe, D.R. (1989) Use of fractionation and chemical analysis schemes for plant effluent toxicity evaluations, in G.W. Suter II and M.A. Lewis (eds.), Aquatic Toxicology and Environmental Fate Eleventh Volume, ASTM STP 1007, American Society for Testing and Materials, Philadelphia, PA, pp. 204-215. 

A Toxicity Reduction Evaluation (TRE) is a site-specific and systematic approach that combines laboratory testing, chemical analysis and on-site investigations to achieve compliance with toxicity based effluent limits. Three fundamental TRE components include 1) Toxicity Identification Evaluations (TIEs), 2) Source Investigations (Sis), and 3) Toxicity Treatability Evaluations... 

In Phase II further effluent treatments are conducted to identify the specific substance(s) responsible for toxicity. Toxicity tests are combined with chemical analysis to obtain a quantitative measurement of the suspected toxicants. The objectives in Phase III are to confirm that the substances responsible for toxicity have been correctly identified, and ensure that all of the toxicity has been accounted for. A weight-of-evidence approach is used to confirm that the substances responsible for toxicity have been identified. In both Phase II and III there are many possible approaches to identifying and confirming the substance(s) responsible for toxicity. 

Jop, K.M., Kendall, T.Z., Askew, A M. and Foster, R.B. (1991) Use of fractionation procedures and extensive chemical analysis for toxicity identification of a chemical plant effluent, Environmental... 

Table 9.4 presents a list of studies on the pollution levels of effluents, landfill leachates, sludge, and sediments, undertaken using an integrated approach to pollution assessment, that is, the simultaneous use of chemical analysis and bioassays. 

Exposure to toxic fire effluents can lead to a combination of physiological and behavioral effects of which physical incapacitation, loss of motor coordination, disorientation are only a few. Furthermore, survivors of a fire may experience postexposure effects, complications, and burn injuries, leading to death or long-term impairment. The major effects, such as incapacitation or death, may be predicted using existing rat lethality data, as described in ISO 1334431 or more recently, based on the best available estimates of human toxicity thresholds as described in ISO 13571,5 by quantifying the fire effluents in different fire conditions in small-scale tests, using only chemical analysis, without animal exposure. 

A chemical analysis of the aerator feeding and settling basin effluent samples is provided in Table 11 in order to illustrate the overall water quality of the samples used in this study. 

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