A DISCUSSION OF REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS AND AIR DISPERSION MODELING APPROACHES APPLICABLE TO US CHEMICAL DEMILITARIZATION FACILITIES

Owners of hazardous waste treatment, storage, and disposal facilities, and certain major air pollution sources, must conduct several separat e ambient air dispersion modeling analyses before beginning constructi on of new facilities or modifying existing facilities. These analyses are critical components of the environmental permitting and facility c ertification processes and must be completed to the satisfaction of fe deral, state, and local regulatory authorities. The U.S. Army has cond ucted air dispersion modeling for its proposed chemical agent disposal facilities to fulfill the following environmental regulatory and risk management requirements: (1) Resource Conservation and Recovery Act h uman health and ecological risk assessment analysis for the hazardous waste treatment and storage permit applications, (2) Quantitative Risk Assessment to support the site-specific risk management programs, and (3) Prevention of Significant Deterioration ambient air impact analys is for the air permit applications. The purpose of these air dispersio n modeling studies is to show that the potential impacts on human heal th and the environment, due to operation of the chemical agent disposa l facilities, are acceptable. This paper describes and compares the ty pes of air dispersion models, modeling input data requirements, modeli ng algorithms, and approaches used to satisfy the three environmental regulatory and risk management requirements listed above, Although thi s paper discusses only one industry (i.e., chemical demilitarization), the information it contains could help those in other industries who need to communicate to the public the purpose and objectives of each m odeling analysis. It may also be useful in integrating the results of each analysis into an overarching summary of compliance and potential risks.