Two case studies of dilution models applied to thermal discharges

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 193-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Valeo ◽  
I. K. Tsanis

The United States Environmental Protection Agency models CORMIX2 and UM were used to predict the ambient temperature rises from thermal discharges near Charlestown, Rhode Island, and Jamesport, Long Island, New York. Observations from two scaled model laboratory studies conducted at Alden Research Laboratories Inc. (ARL) were compared with temperature rise predictions from two numerical models. For the ARL diffuser at Jamesport, both numerical models underestimated the observed temperature rises. In the Charlestown study, UM produced results that were in good agreement with the temperature rises observed, whereas CORMIX2 underpredicted observations but remained within the model's stipulated ±50% error. However, UM was unable to model the plume shape properly, since it is primarily intended for alternating diffusers. The predicted wastefield shapes of CORMIX2 were similar to those observed in the laboratory but of greater surface area. Key words: multiport diffusers, thermal discharges, initial dilution.

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 136-158
Author(s):  
Kate Lewis Hood

Abstract This article offers an account of “toxic infrastructures” as mutually material and discursive arrangements operating in the postwar, postcrash, and settler colonial landscapes of the United States. It specifically responds to Jennifer Scappettone’s multimodal poetic work The Republic of Exit 43, developed after the author’s discovery that the industrial landfill site she grew up alongside in New York had been classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as requiring federal intervention. Tracing Scappettone’s poetic geographies from the “corporate dump” of Syosset Landfill to the more (in)famous waste site Fresh Kills, the article argues that Scappettone exposes the ways that certain bodies and ecologies are rendered physically and conceptually toxic and implicates readers in the uneven social, embodied, and ecological conditions of composition and response. It suggests that Scappettone’s practices of collage, salvage, and collaborative performance destabilize lyric subjectivity to address a “garbage arcadia” compounding the material accumulations of US consumerism and neoliberal financialization with longer processes of dispossession and displacement. Reading this text with feminist materialisms and Julian Talamantez Brolaski’s queer Indigenous poetry, the article considers how poetics might reckon with the material conditions and residues of uneven wasting and generate situated, critical, and relational approaches to toxic infrastructures.


Author(s):  
J. R. Millette ◽  
R. S. Brown

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has labeled as “friable” those building materials that are likely to readily release fibers. Friable materials when dry, can easily be crumbled, pulverized, or reduced to powder using hand pressure. Other asbestos containing building materials (ACBM) where the asbestos fibers are in a matrix of cement or bituminous or resinous binders are considered non-friable. However, when subjected to sanding, grinding, cutting or other forms of abrasion, these non-friable materials are to be treated as friable asbestos material. There has been a hypothesis that all raw asbestos fibers are encapsulated in solvents and binders and are not released as individual fibers if the material is cut or abraded. Examination of a number of different types of non-friable materials under the SEM show that after cutting or abrasion, tuffs or bundles of fibers are evident on the surfaces of the materials. When these tuffs or bundles are examined, they are shown to contain asbestos fibers which are free from binder material. These free fibers may be released into the air upon further cutting or abrasion.


1989 ◽  
Vol 21 (6-7) ◽  
pp. 685-698
Author(s):  
J. J. Convery ◽  
J. F. Kreissl ◽  
A. D. Venosa ◽  
J. H. Bender ◽  
D. J. Lussier

Technology transfer is an important activity within the ll.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Specific technology transfer programs such as the activities of the Center for Environmental Research Information, the Innovative and Alternative Technology Program, as well as the Small Community Outreach Program are used to encourage the utilization of cost-effective municipal pollution control technology. Case studies of three technologies including a plant operations diagnostic/remediation methodology, alternative sewer technologies and ultraviolet disinfection are presented. These case studies are presented retrospectively in the context of a generalized concept of how technology flows from science to utilization which was developed in a study by Allen (1977). Additional insights from this study are presented on the information gathering characteristics of engineers and scientists which may be useful in designing technology transfer programs. The recognition of the need for a technology or a deficiency in current practice are important stimuli other than technology transfer for accelerating the utilization of new technology.


Circulation ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 132 (suppl_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
James L Crooks ◽  
Wayne Cascio ◽  
Madelyn Percy ◽  
Jeanette Reyes ◽  
Lucas Neas ◽  
...  

Introduction: Extreme weather events such as dust storms are predicted to become more frequent as the global climate warms through the 21st century. Studies of Asian, Saharan, Arabian, and Australian dust storms have found associations with cardiovascular and total non-accidental mortality and hospitalizations for stroke. However, the only population-level epidemiological work on dust storms in the United States was focused on a single small metropolitan area (Spokane, WA), and it is uncertain whether its null results are representative of the country as a whole. Hypothesis: Dust storms in the United States are associated with daily cardiovascular mortality. Methods: Dust storm incidence data (N=141), including date and approximate location, as well as meteorological station observations, were taken from the U.S. National Weather Service. County-level mortality data for the years 1993-2005 were acquired from the National Center for Health Statistics. Ambient particulate matter monitor concentrations were obtained from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Inference was performed used conditional logistic regression models under a case-crossover design while accounting for the nonlinear effect of temperature. Results: We found a 9.5% increase in cardiovascular mortality at a two-day lag (95% CI: [0.31%,19.5%], p = 0.042). The results were robust to adjusting for heat waves and ambient particulate matter concentrations. Analysis of storms occurring only on days with <0.1 inches of precipitation strengthened these results and in addition yielded a mean daily increase of 4.0% across lags 0-5 (95% CI: [0.07%,20.8%], p = 0.046). In Arizona, the U.S. state with the largest number of storms, we observed a 13.0% increase at a three-day lag (CI: [0.40%,27.1%], p = 0.043). Conclusions: Dust storms in the U.S. are associated with increases in lagged cardiovascular mortality. This has implications for the development of public health advisories and suggests that further public health interventions may be needed. Disclaimer: This work does not represent official U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy.


1990 ◽  
Vol 22 (12) ◽  
pp. 239-247
Author(s):  
Philip Wolstenholme

To prepare dried municipal sludge material for use by the fertilizer industry, Ocean County Utilities Authority, New Jersey needed a process to increase the size of their sludge particles to between 1 and 3 millimetres. Several processes were evaluated during the planning and design phases of the project. The most cost-effective and reliable process was pressure agglomeration by compaction with a roll press, followed by granulation and screening of the compacted material. This process was tested with a sample of the Authority's digested sludge, which had been dried in a laboratory-scale evaporator. Fullscale compaction and granulation test equipment was used at a laboratory in West Germany to confirm the feasibility of the process and to develop data for the design of the project. As a result of its “innovative” approach to sludge processing, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) qualified this $60 million project for special funding. The project is nearing construction completion and due to be commissioned in spring of 1990.


Author(s):  
Constance J. Doyle

Triage and rescue of casualties from accidents involving hazardous materials is a challenge for many emergency medical services (EMS) personnel. With very toxic materials, the untrained and unprepared rescuer may become a victim. In addition, few hospitals in the United States have decontamination units attached to their emergency departments and emergency department personnel may become exposed if the casualty is not decontaminated. Many environmental cleanup teams, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) team, are well trained in materials handling but are not immediately available when a hazardous materials spill with personal injuries occurs.


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