Combustion products toxicity risk assessment in an offshore installation

Products of a hydrocarbon fire accident have both chronic and acute health effects. They cause respiratory issues to lung cancer. While fire is the most frequent phenomenon among the offshore accidents, predicting the contaminants’ concentration and their behavior are key issues. Safety measures design, such as ventilation and emergency routes based only on predicted contaminants’ concentration seems not to be the best approach. In a combustion process, various harmful substances are produced and their concentration cannot be added. The time duration that any individual spends in different locations of an offshore installation also varies significantly. A risk-based approach considers the duration a person is exposed to contaminants at various locations and also evaluates the hazardous impacts. A risk-based approach has also an additivity characteristic which helps to assess overall risk.Through the current study, an approach is proposed to be used for risk assessment of combustion products dispersion phenomenon in a confined or semi-confined facility. Considering CO, NO₂ and CH₄ as the contaminants of concern, the dispersion of the substances over the layout of the facility after a LNG fire is modeled. Considering different exposure times for three major parts of the facility including the processing area, office area and the accommodation module, the risk contours of CO, NO₂ and CH₄ over the entire facility are developed. The additivity characteristic of the risk-based approach was used to calculate the overall risk. The proposed approach helps to better design safety measures to minimize the impacts and effective emergency evacuation planning.     

Methodology for the quantification of toxic dispersions originated in warehouse fires and its application to the QRA in Catalonia (Spain)

A tool for the quantification of the consequences of toxic dispersions coming from fires in warehouses has been developed. This tool is expected to be applied in the framework of the risk assessment in Catalonia, specifically in the Quantitative Risk Assessment. The present study is based on the criteria gathered in the technical guide BEVI 3.2 and the methodology CPR-15 used in the Netherlands. Hence, the approach performed accepts the main body of the foresaid methodology but implements a different and free source dispersion model, a modified Gaussian model that takes into account the warehouse effect. In the work conducted, a historical analysis of accidents involving fire in warehouses has been performed in order to justify the importance of assessing their potential toxic dispersions. Furthermore, the tool has been tested in different case studies providing results that have been compared with other methodologies, observing similar results that can be useful for the stakeholders and decision makers in the framework of the risk assessment.     

美国化学物质数据报告制度的经验和启示

回顾了美国《有毒物质控制法》(TSCA)中现有化学物质数据报告(CDR)制度的历史背景。介绍了CDR制度的基本内容、数据质量保证、主要修订情况,以及2012年CDR上报的化学物质数据信息汇总分析情况。针对2016年开展的新一轮CDR数据报告,总结了其最新的变化和具体要求。从建立化学物质信息收集制度、对现有化学物质进行分级管理、重点关注化学物质用途划分和归类,以及建立数据库和信息系统等4个方面,探讨了CDR制度对我国化学品环境管理的启示。     

Managing the intractable: communicative structures for management of hexachlorobenzene and other scheduled wastes

This paper explores issues of governance and decision-making structures associated with the problem of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) waste at Botany in New South Wales. From a government perspective, the problem is ‘downstream’ of a well-known national controversy over whether Australia should have a high-temperature incinerator (HTI) to ‘dispose’ of such scheduled wastes. The 1992 decision not to proceed with HTI followed an extensive process of public consultation, which, against the expectations of industry and government, saw the emergence of Australia-wide community opposition. Alternative national management plans were formulated for the treatment of several types of organochlorine waste, with the scheme of these plans first approved in 1993 by the Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council (ANZECC). The HCB Management Plan is one of three such plans (the others being for PCBs and organochlorine pesticides). With this, ANZECC established the Scheduled Waste Management Group comprising government officials, and the National Advisory Body (NAB) made up of stakeholders. Officially the NAB had oversight of the HCB problem until 2002 when it was disbanded. As a result of the HTI experience, new community consultation protocols were introduced in association with the alternative management plans. For HCBs, which are confined almost entirely to Orica's Botany site in southeastern Sydney, this led to the establishment of the Community Participation and Review Committee (CPRC), a representative body with review and advisory functions. This paper draws conclusions from this history about government processes of decision making, the role of individual and institutional actors, the central importance of trust, and the democratisation of risk management. Using concepts delineated by McDonell [1991. Toxic waste management in Australia: why did policy reform fail? Environment 33(6), 11–13, 33–39; 1997. Scientific and everyday knowledge: trust and the politics of environmental initiatives. Social Studies of Science 27, 819–863.] we identify swings towards, then away from institutionalised trust. Across two decades, government and industry have placed faith in centrally controlled mechanisms for public participation, hoping to garner trust and legitimate privileged technological solutions. On the ‘backswings’, these processes have seen public trust dissipate in the face of government misunderstanding of the opportunities for effective bureaucratic interventions.     

Information, power and environmental justice in Botany: the role of community information systems

In the environmental conflict that surrounds the sighting of hazardous waste facilities there is usually a volatile mix of disparities in power, expertise and information access as well as differing views on risk, which are all played out amidst commercial arrangements and environmental justice concerns. In recent times, the volatility of this mix has been further compounded by the growing climate of public concern and distrust surrounding scientific developments and technology. While there is no 'quick fix' to the complex conflict that this entails, community information systems (CISs) based on participatory models can help address the outstanding issues of capacity, information access, power inequities and environmental justice. CISs are an effective response to the five crucial elements of a toxic dispute, that is, the dialogue, capacity building, information access, evaluation of hazards and risk, and expertise. This paper will review the role of community accessible information systems in the dispute in Botany over the management and destruction of Orica Australia's stockpile of the persistent organic pollutant, hexachlorobenzene (HCB). It will focus on the role of CIS in responding to the challenges for expert information delivery, and in addressing the disparity of informational power within the toxic dispute.     

用水氵蚤监测水质

介绍了利用水Sao监测水质的优势及常用方法，探讨了水Sao的实验室培养技术，并了水Sao对污染物的形态、生殖和行为反应，提出利用水Sao监视污水安全排放和生产用水水质的设想。在分析水Sao毒性试验误差来源的基础上，建议对试验生物材料和测试环境进行限定，最终形成操作性强的标准方法。     

An improved model for heavy gas dispersion using time-varying wind data: Mathematical basis,physical assumptions,and case studies

This study developed an improved model for the dispersion of released toxic gases, SLABi, based on the widely used model SLAB. Two major improvements enhanced the model's ability to represent observations. First, SLAB was upgraded to account for temporal variation in wind vectors. Thus, real-time changes in meteorological conditions can be considered in dispersion forecasting. Second, a source term module was developed and embedded in SLABi to standardize the procedure of emission calculation. Both the standard SLAB model and the SLABi model were applied to a case study to evaluate the impact of time-varying winds on the dispersion of released gases. The results showed that meteorology has a significant influence on the dispersion of released gases. The SLABi model can provide decision makers with timely and accurate guidance, so as to minimize hazards to people and the environment.     

矿井综采作业面毒害气体积聚现象的数值模拟研究

本文研究矿井综采作业面附近毒害气体的积聚过程和分布规律。由"U"型通风作业面实际情况出发,提出作业面几何模型和气体流动的动力学控制方程,运用数值分析方法跟踪以CH_4和CO为代表的毒害气体在正常通风作业面的积累和分布情况。计算结果证实,作业面煤层和采空回填区释放出的CH_4和CO因局部涡流作用在回风巷隅角积聚,气体浓度经历升高而后逐渐稳定的过程;设备附近的毒害气体积聚过程与回风巷隅角类似,但积聚速度较快。迎风面附近CH_4和CO气体浓度相对较低;受上浮效应影响,背风面的毒害气体浓度积聚过程主要发生在背风面中上部。在常规通风条件下,局部CH_4浓度已超出安全规程允许的最高值,CO浓度亦达到危害人体健康的水平。本项工作获得的认识为作业面附近毒害气体监测和控制提供指导。     

新毒性试验生物萼花臂尾轮虫的特性试验

研究了萼花臂尾轮虫Ｂｒａｃｈｉｏｎｕｓ ｃａｌｙｃｉｆｌｏｒｕｓ ２４ｈ标准化急性毒性试验的可行性和优越性。应用轮虫休眠卵，在２５℃、３０００ｌｘ的强光照下进行孵化，吸取孵化后３ｈ内的幼体，进行２４ｈ（暗相）急性毒性试验。研究表明，Ｃｕ、Ｈｇ、ＮａＰＣＰ、ＳＤＳ、Ｃｄ、Ｚｎ、Ｎｉ、ＮＨ３对Ｂ．ｃａｌｙｃｉｆｌｏｒｕｓ的２４ｈ ＬＣ５０值分别为０．０２２、０．０４３、１．３０、１．４７、１．７７、１     

Guided group discussion and the reported use of toxic products: The persuasiveness of hearing others’ views

Guided group discussion ( [Lewin et?al., 1952] , [Werner, 2003] and [Werner and Adams, 2001] ) was used to persuade groups to replace their toxic home and garden chemicals with nontoxic alternatives. We hypothesized that discussion would allow participants to hear others endorse the new information, and this normative information would facilitate persuasion. Approximately two months after the group discussion, we obtained questionnaires from the organizer of the meeting and a member of the group who had missed the meeting because of another obligation (i.e., not because of disinterest in the topic). Most organizers were female and analyses were limited to females. This quasi-experimental matched control group design indicated that those who attended the meeting were more favorable towards using nontoxics and more interested in sharing leftover toxic products with friends (instead of discarding them). Path and mediation analyses showed that the organizer’s evaluation of the meeting predicted her final attitude, and perceptions that the group endorsed the material (perceived group norm) partially mediated this relationship. A second mediation analysis showed that evaluation of the meeting predicted intention to share leftover toxics and this relationship was fully mediated by the organizer’s impression that the group would also share leftovers. The results support the idea that persuasion is based both on individual evaluation and normative influence, especially when people are not confident others will accept the behavior, such as sharing leftover toxic products.