title: Site specific risk assessment of an energy-from-waste thermal treatment facility in Durham Region, Ontario, Canada. Part A: Human health risk assessment.
abstract: The regions of Durham and York in Ontario, Canada have partnered to construct an energy-from-waste thermal treatment facility as part of a long term strategy for the management of their municipal solid waste. This paper presents the results of a comprehensive human health risk assessment for this facility. This assessment was based on extensive sampling of baseline environmental conditions (e.g., collection and analysis of air, soil, water, and biota samples) as well as detailed site specific modeling to predict facility-related emissions of 87 identified contaminants of potential concern. Emissions were estimated for both the approved initial operating design capacity of the facility (140,000 tonnes per year) and for the maximum design capacity (400,000 tonnes per year). For the 140,000 tonnes per year scenario, this assessment indicated that facility-related emissions are unlikely to cause adverse health risks to local residents, farmers, or other receptors (e.g., recreational users). For the 400,000 tonnes per year scenarios, slightly elevated risks were noted with respect to inhalation (hydrogen chloride) and infant consumption of breast milk (dioxins and furans), but only during predicted 'upset conditions' (i.e. facility start-up, shutdown, and loss of air pollution control) that represent unusual and/or transient occurrences. However, current provincial regulations require that additional environmental screening would be mandatory prior to expansion of the facility beyond the initial approved capacity (140,000 tonnes per year). Therefore, the potential risks due to upset conditions for the 400,000 tonnes per year scenario should be more closely investigated if future expansion is pursued.
authors.affiliation: Intrinsik Environmental Sciences, 6605 Hurontario Street, Mississauga, ON L5T 0A3, Canada. Electronic address: collson@intrinsik.com.
authors.forename: Christopher A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ollson
authors.forename: Loren D
authors.initials: LD
authors.lastname: Knopper
authors.forename: Melissa L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Whitfield Aslund
authors.forename: Ruwan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jayasinghe
mesh_terms: D003246:Conservation of Energy Resources; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D009864:Ontario; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants
keywords: CAC; COPC; CR; CSF; Cancer slope factor; Concentration ratio; Contaminant of potential concern; Criteria air contaminant; EA; EFW; ERA; Energy-from-waste; Environmental assessment; Environmental risk assessment; HHRA; HQ; Hazard quotient; Human health risk assessment; Human health risk assessment protocol; ILCR; Incineration; Incremental lifetime cancer risk; LADD; LCR; LRASA; Lifetime average daily dose; Lifetime cancer risk; Local risk assessment study area; MDL; Method detection limit; Persistence; Reference concentration; Reference dose; RfC; RfD; TEF; TRV; Thermal mass burn technology; Toxic equivalency factor; Toxicity reference value; UR; Unit risk; Waste management