Skip directly to: content | left navigation | search
  1. ATSDR > Public Health Assessments & Consultations

PETITIONED PUBLIC HEALTH ASSESSMENT

OTTAWA RADIATION AREAS
OTTAWA, LASALLE COUNTY, ILLINOIS


APPENDICES

Appendix I. Figures

Appendix II. Tables

Appendix III. Newspaper articles related to the film "Radium City."

Appendix IV. Response from the Division of Health Studies, ATSDR

Appendix V. Glossary of Radiation Terminology

Appendix VI. Public Comments

Appendix VII. ATSDR Response to Public Comments


Appendix I - Figures


Figure 1. Locations of the Five Superfund Sites in Ottawa, Illinois

The following figures were 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 Services Branch,
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333


Appendix II - Tables

Table I. Gamma radiation readings and exposure estimates in Ottawa, Illinois1.

Area Number Classification Exposure
rate2		 8 Hour
Exposure3
1 Business 0.01 0.08
2 Residential 0.5 4
3 Business 0.1 0.08
4 Open Field 0.1 0.08
5 Rowney Property 0.5 4
6 Business 0.1 0.08
7 Residential 2 16
8 Business 0.53 4.24
9 Residential 2 16
10 Residential 0.1 .08
11 Conservation Area 7 56
12 Business 0.2 1.6
13 Business 0.2 1.6
14 Business 0.2 1.6
15 Residential 0.15 1.2
16 Residential 0.15 1.2
17 Residential 0.1 0.08
18 Flagpole 1.05 8.4
19 Intersection 0.05 0.4
1 Area numbers are coded to the sites listed in the Background Section.
2 Exposure readings are in milliroentgen per hour measured an inch from the ground surface.
3 Exposures were calculated by multiplying the exposure rate by 8 hours and expressing the results in milliroentgens. The current recommended limit of exposure is 100 millirem per year. For gamma radiation, this is about 100 milliroentgens per year.

Data from Weston, 1988.


Table II. Radon Levels in Structures with Radon Reduction Systems1.


1988 Levels 1990 Levels Reduction
Site 2 32.8 pCi/L 4.9 pCi/L 85 percent
Site 15 78 pCi/L 6.7 pCi/L 91 percent
Site 5 155.3 pCi/L 3.7 pCi/L 98 percent

1. These locations have had systems install since January, 1988. The 1990 levels are reported for November, 1989 to January, 1990.


Table III. Surface area, volume estimates and radiation exposure from radium-contaminated soils in Ottawa.

Area Acres Volume (ft3) Maximum Exposure2
2 3.3 10,300 (minimum) 25 µR/hr
4 5.4 36,000 ± 40 % 15 mR/h
5 4.8 830,000 ± 40 % 42 µR/hr
11 10.8 unknown1 4 mR/h*
15 1.2 5,700 (minimum) 30 µR/hr*
1 For the Conservation Area, Site 11, sampling indicated the contamination may have been in discrete layers. Seventy-five percent of the surface shows detectable surface radiation and 90 percent of the site may be contaminated.
2 Distance from surface was corrected to 1 meter.
* No distance was given.

Data from Argonne, 1989.


Table IV. Gamma Radiation Exposures for the Ottawa Radiation Sites1.

Area µR/h 8 hr
(µR)		 Annual2
(mR)		 16 hr
(µR)		 Annual3
(mR)
1 10 80 20 160 58
2 500 4,000 1,000 8,000 2,912
3 100 800 200 1,600 582
4 100 800 200 1,600 582
5 500 4,000 1,000 8,000 2,912
6 100 800 200 1,600 582
7 2,000 16,000 4,000 32,000 1,164
8 530 4,240 1,060 8,480 3,087
9 2,000 16,000 4,000 32,000 11,648
10 100 800 200 1,600 582
11 7,000 56,000 14,000 112,000 40,768
12 200 1,600 400 3,200 1,165
13 200 1,600 400 3,200 1,165
14 200 1,600 400 3,200 1,165
15 150 1,200 300 2,400 874
16 150 1,200 300 2,400 874
17 100 800 200 1,600 582
18 1,050 8,400 2100 16,800 6,115
19 50 400 100 800 291
1 The recommended exposure limit for the public is currently 100 millirem per year. for gamma radiation, this is approximately equal to 100 milliroentgens per year.
2 Annual exposure for a business, above background, based on an 8 hour exposure, 5 days per week for 50 weeks per year.
3 Annual exposure near a residence, above background, based on a 16 hour exposure, 7 days per week for 52 weeks per year.

Table V. Cancer Rates in LaSalle County, Illinois as compared to the United States.



Males

Females
Cancer Site 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-
1979		 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979
Oral Cavity/Tongue 4.5 6.2 4.8 1.2 0.7 1.1
Trachea/Bronchus 25.6 38.1 58.2 6.1 5.1 13.8
Bone and Jaw 0.3 0.6 1.0 1.0 10* 1.2
Leukemia 7.3 10.5 11.7 7.0 7.0 6.5
All Cancers 182.8 186.4 215.8 152.2 139.4 137.9

*Significant excess as compared to the United States rates of the same decade.


Table VI. Cancer Rates in Tazewell County, Illinois as compared to the United States.



Males

Females
Cancer Site 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-
1979		 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979
Oral Cavity/Tongue 5.2 4.0 4.0 1.0 0.4 0.7
Trachea/Bronchus
Lung/Pleura		 31.1 45.6 61.4 2.5 7.2 11.5
Bone and Jaw 3.0 1.9 1.1 1.2 0.6 0.6
Leukemia 8.6 10.7 10.5 5.9 4.9 6.3
All Cancers 185.8 176.5 198.2 132.8 133.2 122.4



Table VII. Cancer Rates in Illinois as compared to the United States.



Males

Females
Cancer Site 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-
1979		 1950-1959 1960-1969 1970-1979
Oral Cavity/Tongue 5.5* 5.4* 5.0* 1.0 1.1 1.4
Trachea/Bronchus
Lung/Pleura		 32.2* 48.5* 65.0* 5.7* 7.8 14.9
Bone and Jaw 1.8 1.3 1.2* 1.1 0.8 0.7*
Leukemia 8.6 9.9 9.5 5.8 6.0 5.7
All Cancers 189.6* 199.6* 211.3* 150.3* 140.0* 137.8*
*Significant excess as compared to the United States rates of the same decade.


Appendix III - Newspaper articles related to the film "Radium City"

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 Services Branch,
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333


Appendix IV - Response from the Division of Health Studies, ATSDR

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 Services Branch,
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333


Appendix V - Radiation Terminology

This Petitioned Public Health Assessment uses terms associated with radioactivity and dose resulting from radiation exposure. These terms are defined in this section.

ALI -- The ALI is defined as that amount of material that would lead to an effective 50 year dose of 5 rem and to an organ, a dose of 50 rem.

curie -- A curie (abbreviated Ci) is the unit used to measure the amount of radioactivity. It is equal to the amount of radioactivity in 1 gram of radium (1 gram = 1/28 ounce or 0.0022046 lb). A picocurie (pCi) is one trillionth of a curie (1 x 10-12). One trillionth is the same as 1 second in 320 centuries or 1 inch in 16 million miles. Exposure levels of the radioactive gas radon are commonly expressed as picocuries per liter of gas (pCi/L).

roentgen -- A roentgen (abbreviated R) is used to measure exposure to ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays or X-rays. Gamma radiation is energy given off by certain radioactive substances, such as uranium and radium. Basically, a roentgen defines the amount of energy given off by these radioactive substances into the air. An exposure of 1 R = 87.7 rads per 1 gram of air.

rad -- The abbreviation "rad" stands for radiation absorbed dose. It measures how much radiation is absorbed by a material after exposure to radiation. It is equal to 100 ergs of energy per gram of material (an erg measures small amounts of energy; there are 41 million ergs in a calorie).

rem -- The abbreviation "rem" stands for roentgen equivalent man. It is a function of the radiation absorbed dose (rad) and the type (or quality) of radiation. In terms of radiation quality, gamma rays are the least harmful internally to humans and alpha particles are the most harmful. The effect of 1 rem is approximately the same as that of 1 R of X-ray or gamma ray radiation. A millirem = 1/1-thousandth of a rem, the same as a dollar in a $1,000. A microrem = 1/1-millionth of a rem, the same as 1 minute in 2 years or 1 inch in 16 miles. Throughout the United States, the average natural radiation exposure (called "background levels") is nearly 300 millirems per year. This includes exposure to radon.

Background radiation occurs from natural sources in the earth's crust. Several naturally occurring radioactive materials contribute to this source of radiation. These include, but are not limited to, uranium, thorium, rubidium, and a small percentage of potassium. Other sources contributing to the background include fallout from cosmic radiation, materials made radioactive as a result of interactions with the cosmic radiation, and nuclear weapons testing.


Appendix VI - Public Comments

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 Services Branch,
E-56
1600 Clifton Road NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30333


Appendix VII - ATSDR Response to Public Comments

The public comment period for the Ottawa, Illinois Petitioned Public Health Assessment was from November 19, 1991, to December 19, 1991; however, public comments were accepted through January 3, 1992. The announcement that the document was available was placed in the local newspaper (The Ottawa Daily Times), and copies of the public health assessment were placed at the public library, the City Clerk's Office, and the LaSalle County Health Department. During this extended public comment period, ATSDR received public comments about the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment.

ATSDR received comments about the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment from seven sources (Appendix VI). Those responses were entered into a tracking system, photocopied, and distributed to the author of the public health assessment. When multiple comments from an individual were received, the comments were numbered. In Appendix VI, all personal identifiers are removed, and the comments are in chronological order. The comments are addressed in the order in which they were received.


December 16, 1991

It is the role of ATSDR to inform the public and federal and state agencies of potentially hazardous materials found in the environment. ATSDR advises agencies on the effectiveness of proposed remediation procedures at a site, but remediation of contaminated sites is not part of ATSDR's mandate from Congress.

December 17, 1991

  1. Determining what level of external radiation exposure is "safe" is a continuing controversy in the health physics community. ATSDR does not believe that it is the Agency's role to make that determination. The conclusions in the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment were determined using the recommendations of both nationally and internationally recognized organizations. For locations in Ottawa with elevated levels of radon, Table II lists locations that have had radon reduction systems installed, as well as the radon levels before and after installation of the systems. EPA has established an action level of 4 pCi/L for radon in residential areas; ATSDR used that action level to prepare the recommendations in this public health assessment.

  2. The accepted radiation exposure limits are not site related. The recommended limits are proposed by international radiation protection organizations to protect the public from excessive exposures.

  3. A paranasal sinus carcinoma is a cancer of the sinus cavity. That description has been added to the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment.

  4. The Summary Section of the Public Health Assessment is not designed to address in detail the findings of the document; rather it reports relevant findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

  5. The Public Health Assessment is not a risk assessment, but an assessment of the potential health effects associated with a particular hazardous waste site. The conclusions state that ATSDR believes that public health at the Ottawa site could be compromised, but the Agency's role does not include determining the risk of radon exposure.

  6. At this time, EPA has installed radon reduction devices in all applicable structures. Table II lists the sites in which those systems have been installed.

  7. This comment has been addressed by correcting the terminology; the correction was also requested by the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety.

  8. ATSDR obtained figures from EPA and sources cited in the list of references. The quality of the reproduced figures is comparable to the originals.

December 18, 1991 (a)

As a result of the recommendations of this Petitioned Public Health Assessment, Ottawa is to be considered for follow-up health activities, including education of medical care providers in the community.


December 18, 1991 (b)

The reference to the Bertrand Study has been corrected, as requested by the LaSalle County Health Department. The remaining comments are addressed as follows:

  1. ATSDR is aware of the existence of the Illinois Cancer Registry data. However, the Agency believes that, because the registry is relatively new, its information would not be as pertinent as that in the Riggans Tapes. The Illinois registry contains data from only two years, and those data may not be meaningful.

  2. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning tip wetting in the radium dial plants stand on their own merit.

  3. ATSDR refers the (commenter to the EPA pamphlet entitled "A Citizen's Guide to Radon," which was first published in 1986. An additional source of information concerning radon, "Radon-The Health Threat with a Simple Solution: A Physician's Guide," is available from the American Medical Association (AMA). The document suggests actions that should be taken within a few years, if radon is identified at levels between 4 and 20 pCi/L. On the other hand, a recent report from the ICRP entitled "Lung Cancer Risk from Indoor Exposures to Radon Daughters" (ICRP 50) states that ". . . it would not be helpful to suggest a generally applicable value of an action level for radon in houses." However, the ICRP also states that, "if a remedial action is fairly simple, an action level for the equilibrium equivalent concentration of 222Rn in houses in the region of 200 Bq/m3 might be considered." That concentration of radon is equal to 5.4 pCi/L. Without detailed determinations, ATSDR believes that action should be taken at levels of 10 pCi/L, rather than at 20 pCi/L, as recommended by EPA, because of the potential duration of exposure.

  4. In practical health physics operations, the magnitude of an exposure is very difficult to measure until a radiation exposure rate exceeds background by a factor of two (i.e., the exposure rate is double the background). In terms of a national average, an exposure level five times above background would result in an annual exposure of approximately 500 millirem, which is the legal limit in the United States.

  5. -6. Personal interviews and health histories are generally outside of the scope of a public health assessment; however, they are typically part of health studies. The Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment recommends that additional studies be considered. Regarding the first and second generation children of those exposed and risks of genetic diseases, children with Down's syndrome have a 20-fold increased incidence of acute leukemia. It is generally recognized that a characteristic of some congenital disorders is an inherited tendency for chromosomal fragility or other structural changes, such as aneuploidy; those disorders are all associated with an increased risk of acute nonlymphocytic leukemia. ATSDR, however, is not sure how that information could be used to identify cancer risks in the second generation of exposed persons, or in the offspring of exposed persons. Stewart has studied women who had significant X-ray exposure during pregnancy. Her results suggest an increased risk of cancer (particularly leukemia) in the offspring of such women (Lancet 2:828-829, 1968). Again, further investigation of that theory falls within the purview of a health study, rather than a public health assessment. If a health study is conducted, it would include identification of risk factors for the outcomes of concern.

  1. The major criterion for dissociation of individuals in areas 7 and 9 was the radiation levels in those areas.

December 18, 1991 (c)

ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks about Ottawa stand on their own merit. As stated in the response to the first comment, ATSDR informs the public and federal and state agencies of potentially hazardous materials found in the environment. ATSDR advises agencies on the effectiveness of proposed remediation procedures at a site, but remediation of contamination sites is not part of ATSDR's mandate.

December 19, 1991

ATSDR has corrected the comment that wastes were improperly disposed of. The sentence of concern now reads "During the operation, 13 areas with elevated gamma radiation were located, suggesting radioactive waste disposal."

  1. ATSDR believes that any releases from the LaSalle Nuclear Power Station 25 miles from Ottawa have not and will not significantly affect the health of citizens of Ottawa.

  2. The dates of concern have been corrected.

  3. The comment stating that the Illinois Department of Nuclear Safety requested EG&G assistance has been addressed.

  4. Site information was gathered from data sent to ATSDR by various sources. The information provided by this commenter has been incorporated into the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment, when applicable.

  5. This comment is addressed in the Demographics, Land Use, and Natural Resource Use section of the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment.

  6. ATSDR agrees with the commenter and has deleted the statement.

  7. ATSDR received raw data from the EPA. Following receipt of this comment, ATSDR reviewed those data and cross-checked the data points. That review found two structures with high radon concentrations. Those structures were sampled seven times. The correction has been made in the text.

  8. ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks concerning the conservation area stand on their own merit. The information concerning the soils from area 4 has been included in the Ottawa Petitioned Public Health Assessment.

  9. ATSDR recognizes that deep municipal wells in the Great Lakes area may contain elevated levels of naturally occurring radium. Because of those natural levels, it would be difficult to determine if contaminant migration is the cause of high radium levels in municipal wells; further, ATSDR does not have adequate well logging data, well construction data, or hydrogeologic information on private wells. Although it would be difficult to determine the source, contaminant migration could affect private wells.

  10. Tazewell County was used as the control population for this document because of information contained in the Bertrand Study. That study compared Tazewell County to LaSalle County. From an epidemiologic viewpoint, similar demographics are important when comparing disease rates.

  11. The commenter is referred to the December 18, 1991 (b), response to comments.

  12. The correction has been made in the text.

December 27, 1991

ATSDR believes that the commenter's remarks stand on their own merit.


December 30, 1991

A press notice announcing the public comment release of an ATSDR Public Health Assessment is published in local papers at the start of the public comment period. The public notice for this public health assessment was dated November 14, 1991 (for immediate release), and a copy of the public notice was published in The Ottawa Daily Times. ATSDR also presented its findings at an Ottawa City Council meeting on November 19, 1991. That same day, an article written by JoAnn Hustis appeared on the front page of The Ottawa Daily Times.

Table of Contents


Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, 1825 Century Blvd, Atlanta, GA 30345
Contact CDC: 800-232-4636 / TTY: 888-232-6348 
USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal
DHHS
Department of Health and Human Services