New Ways to Measure Toxic Discharges from Munitions

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) requires industry and government agencies to report emissions of chemicals listed on the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI). Executive Order 12856 directed previously exempt federal facilities, including military installations, to adhere to EPCRA. This includes toxic release inventory requirements of Section 313. Department of Defense (DoD) facilities, specifically testing and training ranges, need reliable air emissions data for TRI chemicals from munitions activities to (1) meet EPCRA reporting requirements, and/or (2) demonstrate that emissions are below de minimis concentrations and therefore do not need to be reported. At present, published emission factors for munitions activities have been developed from tests conducted for open burning and open detonation (OB/OD) disposal of energetic materials. DoD needs technology that will allow emission factors for TRI chemicals to be developed for munitions usage during testing and training activities.

Until now, emissions factors for DoD testing and training ranges have been developed primarily from burning and detonating munitions under enclosed conditions, and from theoretical calculations based on thermodynamic principles. Unfortunately, the accuracy of these estimates is uncertain. To determine directly the chemical emissions discharged by munitions on a range, Battelle, the Army’s Aberdeen Test Center, the Navy’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, and Brookhaven National Laboratory are conducting a series of tests in 2002-2003. The objective is to develop a methodology for measuring emissions of TRI chemicals from munitions activities at DoD facilities, and to determine emission factors for numerous TRI chemicals from selected munitions.

The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) initiated and is sponsoring this research to help DoD respond to the EPCRA. The Battelle team is conducting two types of field campaigns. During the initial campaign, Battelle scientists will quantify TRI emissions from the discharge of weapons. The second study will focus on the measurement of emissions from the detonation of munitions upon impact. The measurement campaigns will be carried out at the Aberdeen Test Center at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. The chemical measurements will employ an array of instruments and samplers including highly sensitive and specific real-time air sampling mass spectrometers, whole air collectors, aerosol samplers, and individual monitors for specific chemical species. In order to calculate emission factors from the chemical measurements, it is necessary to account for dilution of the emissions as the emission cloud expands and moves downwind. Several special technologies will be employed to account for dilution either by measuring the volume of the emission cloud (3-D photogrammetry, aerosol lidar), or by tracking dilution via a chemical tracer (carbon mass balance, inert noble gas). Once the methodology has been established, Battelle will apply their results to determine emission factors for a broad range of DoD munitions items and activities.

For more information, contact Chet Spicer (614) 424-5319, spicerc@battelle.org.