Disclaimer - For assistance accessing this document or additional information,please contact [email protected]. Depleted Uranium Technical Brief United States Office of Air and Radiation EPA-402-R-06-011 Environmental Protection Agency Washington, DC 20460 December 2006 Depleted Uranium Technical Brief EPA 402-R-06-011 December 2006 Project Officer Brian Littleton U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Radiation and Indoor Air Radiation Protection Division ii iii FOREWARD The Depleted Uranium Technical Brief is designed to convey available information and knowledge about depleted uranium to EPA Remedial Project Managers, On-Scene Coordinators, contractors, and other Agency managers involved with the remediation of sites contaminated with this material. It addresses relative questions regarding the chemical and radiological health concerns involved with depleted uranium in the environment. This technical brief was developed to address the common misconception that depleted uranium represents only a radiological health hazard. It provides accepted data and references to additional sources for both the radiological and chemical characteristics, health risk as well as references for both the monitoring and measurement and applicable treatment techniques for depleted uranium. Please Note: This document has been changed from the original publication dated December 2006. This version corrects references in Appendix 1 that improperly identified the content of Appendix 3 and Appendix 4. The document also clarifies the content of Appendix 4. iv Acknowledgments This technical bulletin is based, in part, on an engineering bulletin that was prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Radiation and Indoor Air (ORIA), with the assistance of Trinity Engineering Associates, Inc. (TEA) under Contract No.68-D-00-210, and EnDyna, Inc. under Contract No. 06-H-00-1057. Thanks go to Ron Wilhelm, Madeleine Nawar and Schatzi Fitz-James of ORIA, and Charles Sands, Stuart Walker, Robin Anderson, and Kenneth Lovelace of OSWER for their comments and suggestions and to the following EPA regional staff: R2: Angela Carpenter; R3: Randy Sturgeon; R4: David Dorian; R6: Camille Hueni, Raji Josiam and George Brozowski, R10: Rick Poeton. v TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. PURPOSE .................................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 2.1 Characteristics of Uranium and Depleted Uranium ..................................................................................................1 2.2 Health Concerns................................................................................................................................................................. 2 2.2.1 Exposure Pathways ................................................................................................................................................... 2 2.2.2 Chemical Risk.............................................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2.3 Radiological Risk........................................................................................................................................................ 3 3. URANIUM IN THE ENVIRONMENT ........................................................................................................................................ 4 3.1 Occurrence.......................................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.2 Geochemistry...................................................................................................................................................................... 4 3.3 Mobility ................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 3.4 Enhanced Mobility ............................................................................................................................................................. 4 4. FATE AND TRANSPORT OF DEPLETED URANIUM.........................................................................................................5 4.1 Fate in Soil........................................................................................................................................................................... 5 4.2 Fate in Water ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 4.3 Fate in Air............................................................................................................................................................................. 6 4.4 Fate in Biota ........................................................................................................................................................................ 7 4.5 Partition Coefficients ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 4.6 Fate and Transport Modeling.......................................................................................................................................... 7 5. SITE SCREENING FOR DEPLETED URANIUM CONTAMINATION................................................................................8 6. MEASUREMENT TOOLS AND MONITORING TECHNIQUES..........................................................................................9 7. REMEDIATION TECHNOLOGIES........................................................................................................................................... 9 7.1 Soil Technologies .............................................................................................................................................................. 9 7.1.1 Physical Separation ................................................................................................................................................... 9 7.1.2 Chemical Extraction................................................................................................................................................. 10 7.2 Groundwater Technologies........................................................................................................................................... 10 7.2.1 Pump and Treat......................................................................................................................................................... 10 7.2.2 Permeable Reactive Barriers ................................................................................................................................. 10 7.2.3 Commercial Test Studies........................................................................................................................................ 10 7.3 Technologies for Soil and Water................................................................................................................................... 11 7.3.1 In-Situ Stabilization/Treatment..............................................................................................................................1 1 7.3.2 Phytoremediation ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 7.3.3 Monitored Natural Attenuation..............................................................................................................................1 1 8. EPA STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO DEPLETED URANIUM SITES............................................................................ 12 8.1 For Soil ............................................................................................................................................................................... 12 8.2 For Air ................................................................................................................................................................................. 12 8.3 For Water............................................................................................................................................................................ 12 8.4 Storage of Depleted Uranium........................................................................................................................................ 12 8.5 For Disposal...................................................................................................................................................................... 13 Acronyms....................................................................................................................................................................................... 14 Glossary......................................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Additional Sources of Information ..............................................................................................................................17