This webcast is an opportunity for potential applicants to the 2010 CARE cooperative agreement grant program to learn more about the program and ask questions about the Request for Proposals issued in December 2009.

This webcast is an opportunity for potential applicants to the 2010 CARE cooperative agreement grant program to learn more about the program and ask questions about the Request for Proposals issued in December 2009.

As of January 2006, there were more than 239,000 substances on the Chemical Abstracts Service list of regulated chemicals. The production of more than 4,800 of these chemicals exceeded 1,000 metric ton/year. This total does not include the massive quantities of "naturally occurring" contaminants that may enter the human environment due to resource extraction and production such as mining, groundwater pumping and agricultural practices. That said, how is it possible to identify those contaminants of most environmental concern, and then winnow that list further to those contaminants most likely to be the foci of attention in future mega-contamination sites? In short, how can we identify the contaminants most likely to create the next generation of Superfund sites? Motivated by this challenge, a workshop of 24 experts was convened in August 2009 with the express purpose of answering this question. The participants were specifically chosen to encompass the broad spectrum of disciplines with insight into the issue's many different facets, including toxicology; pharmacokinetics; pharmacology; risk assessment; contaminant fate and transport; chemical bioaccumulation, bioavailability and persistence; chemical parameter estimation and modeling; analytic chemistry; chemical production, use and disposal, and monitoring and assessment technology. It is the intent of this seminar to summarize the discussions, conclusions, and identification of challenges that have evolved (so far) out of the workshop.

In order to create a prioritized list of contaminants (and groups of contaminants) of greatest concern, the considerations that must be integrated are neither simple nor few in number. They must include the substance's environmental persistence, its toxicity or otherwise deleterious environmental impact, its type and number of health end-points, its frequency of occurrence and volume of production, and its likelihood to accumulate or be disposed in such a way as to create geographic hot spots with a high potential for human exposure. Equally importantly, an algorithm is needed that delineates the judgments and measurements necessary to maintain the relevance of the list as new information, tools, and techniques are developed and as yet unconsidered contaminant candidates are identified or come on the market. This is not to say that what have historically been the primary actors in Superfund are still not necessary targets for study in both present and future Superfund sites. However, they should be evaluated comparatively along with pollutants in the poorly defined and rapidly broadening list of emerging contaminants as we attempt to predict what the next generation of Superfund sites will look like and how to prioritize finite budgets to minimize the likelihood of their creation.

Treatment of dissolved-phase chlorinated ethenes in groundwater using in situ bioremediation (ISB) is an established technology; however, its use for DNAPL source zones is an emerging application. This training course supports the ITRC Technical and Regulatory Guidance document In Situ Bioremediation of Chlorinated Ethene: DNAPL Source Zones (BioDNAPL-3, 2008). This document provides the regulatory community, stakeholders, and practitioners with the general steps practitioners and regulators can use to objectively assess, monitor, and optimize ISB treatment of DNAPL source zones. The objective is to provide adequate technology background for the user to understand the general and key aspects of ISB for treatment of chlorinated ethene DNAPL source zones. It is not intended to be a step-by-step instruction manual for remedial design, but describes technology-specific considerations for application of ISB of DNAPL source zones.

For this training and guidance document, a DNAPL source zone includes the zone that encompasses the entire subsurface volume in which DNAPL is present either at residual saturation or as "pools" that accumulate above confining units. The DNAPL source zone includes regions that have come into contact with DNAPL and may be storing contaminant mass as a result of diffusion of DNAPL into the soil matrix. Even though DNAPLs may be present in both the unsaturated and saturated zones, the discussion of ISB of DNAPL source zones in this training and guidance document focuses on treatment of DNAPL source zones within the saturated zone.

Two goals of any DNAPL source treatment technology are to 1) reduce the mass of contaminants within the source area and 2) prevent migration of contaminants above unacceptable levels. The enhanced ISB technology reduces source mass and controls flux through the enhanced dissolution and desorption of DNAPL constituents into the aqueous phase, and subsequent microbially mediated degradation processes. Although enhanced ISB of DNAPL source zones has been demonstrated in the field at a few chlorinated solvent sites, expectations for rapid depletion of the source zone must be realistic. This training and guidance provide detailed requirements necessary to support the realistic determination of goals for ISB of a DNAPL source zone.

To get the most out of this training, before the class, please review the associated document, the ITRC Technical and Regulatory Guidance document In Situ Bioremediation of Chlorinated Ethene: DNAPL Source Zones (BioDNAPL-3, 2008).

Many sites with chlorinated organic contamination in groundwater have gone through extensive remedial evaluations and actions. After years of operating high energy processes, their effectiveness has begun to diminish without remedial objectives being met. Other effective remedial alternatives can be applied; however, there are difficulties transitioning these sites from these high energy systems to other low energy remedial alternatives and eventually to Monitored Natural Attenuation (MNA).

This training on the ITRC Technical and Regulatory Guidance for Enhanced Attenuation: Chlorinated Organics (EACO-1, 2008) describes the transition (the bridge) between aggressive remedial actions and MNA and vise versa. Enhanced attenuation (EA) is the application of technologies that minimize energy input and are sustainable in order to reduce contaminant loading and/or increase the attenuation capacity of a contaminated plume to progress sites towards established remedial objectives. Contaminant loading and attenuation capacity are fundamental to sound decisions for remediation of groundwater contamination. This training explains how a decision framework which, when followed, allows for a smooth transition between more aggressive remedial technologies to sustainable remedial alternatives and eventually to Monitored Natural Attenuation. This training will demonstrate how this decision framework allows regulators and practitioners to integrate Enhanced Attenuation into the remedial decision process.

As our experience and knowledge grows around the implementation of MNA, the EA process will be considered an important management tool for optimizing site remedies and moving sites to final completion. This approach is consistent with the current regulatory environment and can be accommodated within a broad range of regulatory programs such as CERCLA and State dry cleaner regulations. This new framework and decision process will accelerate the environmental clean-up progress on a national scale and reduce overall costs, while still providing protection to human health and the environment.

For reference during the training class, participants should download and print a copy of the decision flow chart, Figure 2-1 on page 10 of the ITRC Technical and Regulatory Guidance for Enhanced Attenuation: Chlorinated Organics (EACO-1, 2008) and available as a 1-page PDF at http://www.cluin.org/conf/itrc/eaco/ITRC-EACO-DecisionFlowchart.pdf.

Phytotechnologies is a set of technologies using plants to remediate or contain contaminants in soil, groundwater, surface water, or sediments. These technologies have become attractive alternatives to conventional cleanup technologies due to relatively low capital costs and the inherently aesthetic nature of planted sites.

This training familiarizes participants with ITRC's Phytotechnology Technical and Regulatory Guidance and Decision Trees, Revised (Phyto-3, 2009). This document provides guidance for regulators who evaluate and make informed decisions on phytotechnology work plans and practitioners who have to evaluate any number of remedial alternatives at a given site. This document updates and replaces Phytoremediation Decision Tree (Phyto-1, 1999) and Phytotechnology Technical and Regulatory Guidance Document (Phyto-2, 2001). It has merged the concepts of both documents into a single document. This guidance includes new, and more importantly, practical information on the process and protocol for selecting and applying various phytotechnologies as remedial alternatives.

This guidance contains decision trees:

• Remedy Selection Decision Tree
  
• Groundwater Decision Tree
  
• Soil/Sediment decision Tree
  
• Riparian Zone Decision Tree

The decontamination and decommissioning (D&D) of radiologically-contaminated facilities presents numerous challenges. Many tasks are involved, each of which requires adherence to a complex array of federal and state regulations and policies, attention to health and safety issues for workers and the public, monitoring and management of schedules and costs, and interaction with a potentially large number of stakeholders who have an interest in the present activities and future plans for sites undergoing D&D. Since large-scale D&D operations at nuclear facilities began in the 1970s, one of the most noticeable advances has been dramatic decreases in decommissioning cost. This change is the result of a combination of accumulated decommissioning operational experience reducing the high initial cost estimates (which were high due to uncertainties and poorly defined boundaries), evolution of regulatory guidance, and continuously-developing technologies.

A large body of knowledge has already been accumulated on D&D operations. At the present time, approximately 90 commercial power reactors, 250 research reactors, 100 mines, 5 reprocessing facilities, and 14 fuel fabrication plants have been retired from operation, with some having been fully dismantled. In addition, the largest environmental cleanup projects ever undertaken are in progress or have recently been completed at several large DOE facilities in the nuclear weapons complex. Technologies developed for the D&D portions of these cleanups are part of the lessons learned from these projects.

This training introduces regulators, cleanup contractors, site owners/operators, and technology providers to ITRC's Technical/Regulatory Guidance, Decontamination and Decommissioning of Radiologically-Contaminated Facilities (RAD-5, 2008), created by ITRC's Radionuclides Team. The curriculum is composed of four modules as follows:

Module 1: Introduction and Regulatory Basis for D&D

Module 2: Factors for Implementing D&D

Module 3: Preliminary Remediation Goal (PRG) Calculators

Module 4: Case Studies and Lessons Learned

Light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) are organic liquids such as gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum hydrocarbon products that are immiscible with water and less dense than water. LNAPLs are important because they are present in the subsurface at thousands of remediation sites across the country, and are frequently the focus of assessment and remediation efforts. A sound LNAPL understanding is necessary to effectively characterize and assess LNAPL conditions and potential risks, as well as to evaluate potential remedial technologies or alternatives. Unfortunately, many environmental professionals have a faulty understanding of LNAPL conditions based on outdated paradigms.

The ITRC LNAPLs Team is providing Internet-based training to improve the general understanding of LNAPLs. Better understanding leads to better decision making. Additionally, this training provides a necessary technical foundation to foster effective use of the forthcoming ITRC LNAPLs Team Technical Regulatory Guidance Document: Evaluating LNAPL Remedial Technologies for Achieving Project Goals (to be published in 2009).

This training course is relevant for new and veteran regulators, environmental consultants, and technically-inclined site owners and public stakeholders. The training course is divided into two parts:

• Part 1: An Improved Understanding of LNAPL Behavior in the Subsurface - State of Science vs. State of Practice
  
• Part 2: LNAPL Characterization and Recoverability - Improved Analysis

Light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) are organic liquids such as gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum hydrocarbon products that are immiscible with water and less dense than water. LNAPLs are important because they are present in the subsurface at thousands of remediation sites across the country, and are frequently the focus of assessment and remediation efforts. A sound LNAPL understanding is necessary to effectively characterize and assess LNAPL conditions and potential risks, as well as to evaluate potential remedial technologies or alternatives. Unfortunately, many environmental professionals have a faulty understanding of LNAPL conditions based on outdated paradigms.

The ITRC LNAPLs Team is providing Internet-based training to improve the general understanding of LNAPLs. Better understanding leads to better decision making. Additionally, this training provides a necessary technical foundation to foster effective use of the forthcoming ITRC LNAPLs Team Technical Regulatory Guidance Document: Evaluating LNAPL Remedial Technologies for Achieving Project Goals (to be published in 2009).

This training course is relevant for new and veteran regulators, environmental consultants, and technically-inclined site owners and public stakeholders. The training course is divided into two parts:

• Part 1: An Improved Understanding of LNAPL Behavior in the Subsurface - State of Science vs. State of Practice
  
• Part 2: LNAPL Characterization and Recoverability - Improved Analysis