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1. ATSDR > Public Health Assessments & Consultations

PRELIMINARY PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

ST. LOUIS AIRPORT
HAZELWOOD INTERIM STORAGE/FUTURA COATINGS COMPANY
ST. LOUIS, ST. LOUIS COUNTY, MISSOURI

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE 1. ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING DATA AS REPORTED IN 1988 FOR THE ST. LOUIS AIRPORT STORAGE SITE

TABLE 2. ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING DATA AS REPORTED IN 1988 FOR THE HAZELWOOD INTERIM STORAGE SITE

TABLE 3. OFF-SITE RADIONUCLIDE LEVELS AS REPORTED IN 1988 FROM THE LATTY PROPERTIES

TABLE 4. MAXIMUM CONTAMINATION LEVELS AS REPORTED IN 1990 ALONG THE HAUL ROADS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SLAPS NPL SITE

TABLE 1. ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING DATA AS REPORTED
IN 1988 FOR THE ST. LOUIS AIRPORT STORAGE SITE¹

Contaminant	Groundwater	Surface Water	Sediment	Soils2
Uranium	5,500 pCi/L	0.4 pCi/L	1.7 pCi/g	1,600 pCi/g3
Th-232	ND4	ND	ND	63
Th-230	50	background	4.1	2,600
Ra-226	1	background	background	5,600

1 -	The Maximum contaminant level for these radionuclides in drinking water is 5 pCi/L for radium and 15 pCi/L for gross alpha activity except for uranium.
2 -	The concentration of thorium and radium in soils should not exceed 5 pCi/g above background over the first 15 cm of depth and 15 pCi/g averaged over 15 cm at depths greater than 15 cm (40 CFR 192). There are no standards for the concentration of uranium in soils.
3 -	Value is for Uranium-238
4 -	No Data

TABLE 2. ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING DATA AS REPORTED
IN 1988 FOR THE HAZELWOOD INTERIM STORAGE SITE¹

TABLE 3. OFF-SITE RADIONUCLIDE LEVELS AS
REPORTED IN 1988 FROM THE LATTY PROPERTIES

TABLE 4. MAXIMUM CONTAMINATION LEVELS AS REPORTED IN 1990
ALONG THE HAUL ROADS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SLAP NPL SITE

FIGURE 1. LOCATION OF THE SLAP, HIS, AND FUTURA SITES

FIGURE 2. LOCATION OF THE SLAPS VICINITY PROPERTIES

FIGURE 3. BOUNDARIES OF THE HIS AND FUTURA SITES

FIGURE 4. LOCATION OF THE LATTY AVENUE VICINITY PROPERTIES

FIGURE 5. SLAPS ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING LOCATIONS

FIGURE 6. SURFACE WATER, GROUNDWATER, AND SEDIMENT SAMPLING LOCATIONS AT THE HISS

Figure 1. Location of the SLAP, HIS, and Futura sites

Figure 2. Location of the SLAP vicinity properties

Figure 3. Boundaries of the HIS and Futura sites

Figure 4. Location of the Latty Avenue vicinity properties

Figure 5. SLAPS environmental monitoring locations

Figure 6. Surface water, groundwater, and sediment sampling locations locations at the HISS

APPENDIX A - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY DOSE CALCULATIONS

The following section was not available in electronic format for conversion to HTML at the time of preparation of this document. To obtain a hard copy of the document, please contact:

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Attn: Chief, Program Evaluation, Records, and Information ServicesBranch
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333

The following section was not available in electronic format for conversion to HTML at the time of preparation of this document. To obtain a hard copy of the document, please contact:

Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Health Assessment and Consultation
Attn: Chief, Program Evaluation, Records, and Information ServicesBranch
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333

ATSDR received comments from eight sources concerning the St. Louis Airport, Hazelwood Interim Storage, Futura Coatings Company in St. Louis, Missouri. The comment period for this health assessment was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and an article in the newspaper appeared on Tuesday, May 14, 1991. The comment period ran from May 15 to June 13, 1991. The responses were entered into a tracking system, photocopied, and distributed to the health assessment author. Where multiple comments from an individual were received, the comments were numbered. For Appendix B, all personal identifiers were removed from the comments received and placed in chronological order. The comments are addressed in chronological order as received.

May 30, 1991

1. The ATSDR Health Assessment for the St. Louis Airport, Hazelwood Interim Storage, Futura Coatings Company is written for several audiences, both technical and public. The technical audience includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), other federal agencies involved with the site, state agencies, and the parties responsible for the site (owners or caretakers). In this respect the technical aspects of the assessment are a necessity. Because of the technical nature, ATSDR has attempted to structure certain sections of the health assessment to the public. These sections include the Summary, Human Exposure Pathways, and the Public Health Implications.

2. The determination of the size of a population that would be necessary to detect an increase in cancers is risk analysis. The National Academy of Science in their Biological Effects of Ionizing Radiation report (BEIR V) did publish risk factors for excess cancer mortalities for populations exposed to ionizing radiation. In a population of 100,000 males exposed over a lifetime to 100 mrem per year, the excess cancer mortality rate is estimated to be on the order of 520 excess deaths. For females under these same conditions, the excess death from cancer was estimated to be 600 individuals. However, there is much disagreement among radiation specialists as to the long term health effects of low doses of radiation. A statement of these studies has been included in the Public Health Implications section.

3. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning radon stand on its own merit. A statement has been added in the Toxicological Implications section.

4. The dose calculations of ATSDR and DOE indicate the potential dose deposited directly to the bone surface after the internalization of radioactive materials. This dose is above and beyond that which might be received from the naturally occurring background radiation. ATSDR disagrees with the comment that "it is also considerably smaller than differences in radiation exposures due to the varying radon levels in a home." The National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements (NCRP) in Report 78 state that the lung dose as a result of radon is low. However, the major lung damage is from the radon decay products. The NCRP estimates that the average dose to the lung bronchial epithelium for adults is 180 mrad per year and for a 10 year old the average dose is 300 mrad per year. These doses are 10 to 20 times higher than the bone doses calculated by ATSDR or DOE.

5. A response to this question requires a comparative risk assessment which is not in the purview of ATSDR.

6. The 15 mrem estimate was calculated using current methodology and data of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. The variation for these calculations is determined by the amount of contaminated soil a ball player might receive if they ingested a gram of soil. In some cases, it is conceivable that a very intense ball player may have ingested much more than a gram; however, it is believed that the average ball player would ingest much less. ATSDR is not aware of any studies involving soil ingestion in athletic events.

7. ATSDR has developed a Public Health Assessment Guidance Manual which describes five levels of public health concern. At the time this health assessment was prepared, the St. Louis Airport Site would have been classified as a Potential Public Health Hazard. Under the new guidance manual, the site has been reevaluated and upgraded to an Indeterminate Public Health Hazard. The manual states that this category is used for sites in which there is incomplete information. Although ATSDR believes humans have been exposed to levels of contaminants that could cause adverse health effects, data or information from this site are not available for all environmental media, such as biota, to which human may have been exposed.

8. It is the opinion of ATSDR that an estimate of the number of person-sieverts would not be beneficial for this site. This is because exposure depends on many factors including those related to life styles, use of the environment around the site, and in some instances, biological aspects. The International Commission on Radiological Protection Report 26, paragraph 219 states that "because of its complexity, assessments of collective dose equivalent involve the use of simplifications and approximations, particularly when a large population is irradiated at low dose levels. Because of this, they may involve considerable uncertainties and these must be borne in mind when the assessments are being used to appraise the detriment associated with a practice."

   A response to the cost benefit analysis requires a risk assessment which is not in the purview of ATSDR.

June 7, 1991

ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

June 10, 1991 (a)

1. The ATSDR health assessment is not designed to generate new data for an existing site. However, the health assessment is to review the existing documents associated with a site. This information is garnered from government and public documents and comments from citizens. The health assessment does not serve as an epidemiological study, but it can suggest that an epidemiological study be considered. This indeed has been stated in the Recommendations section of the health assessment as the site is being considered for follow-up health studies.

   Although it is true that radiation can cause genetic disorders, radiation is not specific for male or female genes. In cases of Down's Syndrome where there is a breakage and realignment of human chromosome 21, the radiation doses resulting in chromosome breakage are orders of magnitude higher that those found at this site.

2. The majority of the radioactive materials found at this site are predominately alpha emitters with an emission of gamma radiation associated with the decay. Many of these resulting gamma ray emissions are very weak and are easily diminished in air. In cases of internalization of alpha emitters, the damage resulting from alpha radiation is twenty times more serious than damage resulting from gamma radiation. When alpha emitters, such as those found at this site, are internalized, they can result in bone cancers or lung cancer. In the case of radon exposure, it is not the radon that causes the most damage, but the alpha particles resulting from the decay of the radon progeny.

3. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

4. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

June 10, 1991 (b)

ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

June 12, 1991 (a)

An additional statement has been added to Part C. DEMOGRAPHICS, LAND USE, AND NATURAL RESOURCE USE indicating that some neighborhoods may use the creek for recreational purposes.

June 12, 1991 (b)

1. This comment has been addressed in the Summary section and the Background section of the health assessment.

2. Uranium-235 is found at the site; however, its concentration in the waste piles is low. Uranium-235 can be the main component in nuclear weapons or reactors and because of its value, is rarely disposed of as waste. The term enriched uranium refers to the chemical and physical processes whereby the amount of uranium-235 in natural uranium (0.3 percent) is amplified to a higher or enriched amount of uranium-235. This enriched uranium can then be used as previously described. The health effects of uranium-235 are believed to be the same as natural uranium in which the chemical toxicity resulting in renal damage is the major cause for concern.

   Radon-219 is a decay product of uranium-235, although present at the site was not discussed in the health assessment because of its short half-life, 3.96 seconds. After 40 seconds, the amount of radon-219 remaining is about 0.1 percent of the original amount. Of the decay products of radon-219, the member with the longest half-life is thallium-207 with a half-life of 4.8 minutes. After 48 minutes, the amount of thallium-207 remaining is also 0.1 percent of the original amount. In fact, if you speculate that the waste uranium-235 has been at the site for 25 years, then the ratio of radon-219 present with respect to the uranium-235 is 1/443,000 of uranium-235.

3. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

4. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

June 13, 1991 - Missouri Department of Health

1. ATSDR addresses this comment in the Health Outcome Data Evaluation section of the public health assessment. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

2. ATSDR addresses this comment in the Health Outcome Data Evaluation section of the public health assessment. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

June 13, 1991

1. ATSDR believes that the levels of radionuclides found at these sites are high levels from an environmental point of view as many samples exceeded ambient background levels of the St. Louis, Missouri area.

2. The spelling correction for Futura has been made in the health assessment. The properties in question have now been referred to Latty Avenue Vicinity Properties. The figure in question was derived from a draft document released by Bechtel in 1988.

3. The health assessment has been corrected to reflect the commenter's concern.

4. The health assessment stated that materials had been placed in a second pile. The initial reference (Bechtel, 1987a) stated that materials were stored in a supplementary pile at HISS. The health assessment has been corrected to reflect the commenter's concern.

5. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

6. The values in the health assessment were derived from Tables I1-I12 of Bechtel document. The values in those tables for each month were averaged over the 12-month period and the averages reported in the health assessment.

7. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

8. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning this site stand on its own merit.

9. The health assessment has been corrected to reflect the commenter's concern.

10. The health assessment has been corrected to reflect the commenter's concern.

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Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1825 Century Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30345
Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348 

Department of Health and Human Services