The Establishment of a Perimeter Air Monitoring System for the Warren County PCB Landfill Detoxification Project

摘要

In 1982, under the Toxic Substances Control Act, the State of North Carolina constructed a landfill in Warren County, North Carolina. The purpose of the landfill was to securely consolidate soil contaminated by the illegal spraying of liquids containing polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) along 210 miles of roadway in North Carolina. The contaminated roadsides were listed on EPA's National Priorities List for remediation and the construction of the landfill was the selected remedy. The landfill has been dormant for twenty years, but as a result of community protest and promises by elected officials, the State of North Carolina is detoxifying the contents of the landfill using Base-Catalyzed Decomposition-Thermal Desorption Unit (BCD-TDU) technology. Remedial actions consist of detoxification of approximately 70,000 tons of materials contaminated with PCBs. The average concentration of PCBs is approximately 350 parts per million (ppm) with a range from 150 to almost 900 ppm. The PCBs are a mixture of PCB congeners with approximately 61% Aroclor 1260, 27% Aroclor 1254, and 12% Aroclor 1242 by weight. Other chemicals such as chlorinated benzenes, furans, and dioxins are present in part per quadrillion to part per billion concentrations. The establishment of a perimeter air monitoring system was required to determine the migration of selected hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) off-site during remediation. The target HAPs to be monitored by the perimeter sampling stations are volatile organic compounds that are included on the NC 2D.1104 Toxic Air Pollutants list, total PCBs, toxicity equivalent quotient dioxin/furan, and particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to 10 micrometers. This paper presents a brief history of the Warren County PCB Landfill, overview of the BCD-TDU technology, the establishment of a perimeter air monitoring program and the quality assurance/quality control activities that were required to ensure the collection of accurate data.