Environmental Aspects of Converting CW Facilities to Peaceful Purposes: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Environmental Aspects of Converting CW Facilities to Peaceful Purposes and Derivative Technologies in Modeling, Medicine and Moni

There is hardly any information available on the chronic effects of low doses of chemical warfare agents, but there is a growing body of data on the chronic effects of exposure to other toxic materials (PAHs, PABs and the like). One of the four main themes of the book is thus the chronic effects of extended exposure to low doses of toxic material. There is some important new work on the effects of such materials on cellular material and genes. The book's second main theme is the decontamination of CW facilities, centring on two topics: bioremediation and concrete. Both before and after decontamination, one needs to be able to analyze residual toxics at trace level - possibly even at parts per trillion or parts per quadrillion levels. Current techniques for use at these levels do not permit the identification of compounds. Neither LIDAR nor solid phase microextraction, used for air monitoring, offer this sort of sensitivity. Toxic waste has to be disposed of, and plasma arc technology and chemical oxidation are discussed as techniques to reduce toxicity to acceptable levels - if such can be specified. The eternal question in such matters, of course, is "How clean is clean enough?", and the discussion of this theme outlines two approaches: a regulatory approach and one based on quantitative risk analysis. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Effects of Long-Term Exposure to Low Levels of Toxic Materials....Pages 1-9 Mathematical Modeling in the Problems of Chemical and Ecological Safety....Pages 11-20 Biomonitoring of Exposure to Chemical Warfare Agents....Pages 21-29 Medical and Biological Aspects of the Problem of Chemical Safety of the Biosphere....Pages 31-43 Solidification/Stabilization of Adamsite and Lewisite in Cement and the Stability of Arylarsenicals in Soil....Pages 45-65 Oxidative Decontamination....Pages 67-73 Innovative Technology for Detoxification and Disinfection of Soils and Water Bodies....Pages 75-79 Quality Assurance and Quality Control for on-Site Analysis of Toxic Materials....Pages 81-87 Rapid Screening Methods to Isolate Proliferation Related Compounds from Suspect Samples Utilizing Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) Technology....Pages 89-108 Fast Screening of Water and Organic Solution Samples for Polychlorinated Compounds: Microliquid Extraction and GC/MS....Pages 109-113 Trace Analytical Methods for the Analysis of Lewisite Residues....Pages 115-122 General Approaches to The Analysis of Arsenic Containing Warfare Agents....Pages 123-138 Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of a CW Facility Site for Arsenic Containing Warfare Agents....Pages 139-147 Mobile Lidar for Monitoring Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants....Pages 149-157 Multi-Wavelength Lidar....Pages 159-167 Monitoring Air Quality Associated with CW Facilities....Pages 169-179 Ecologically Safe Technology for Bioremediation of Soils Polluted by Toxic Chemical Substances....Pages 181-186 Direct Chemical Oxidation of Mixed or Toxic Wastes....Pages 187-202 Thermal Plasma as a Novel Technique for Water Decontamination....Pages 203-210 Scientific-Engineering Foundation of Plasma-Chemical Technological Treatment of Toxic Agents (TA) and Industrial Super-Toxic Agents (ISA)....Pages 211-222 Risk Assessment Within the Control Process of Major Accident Hazards....Pages 223-240 NATO and the International Science and Technology Center in Moscow jointly sponsored the March 1999 workshop in Speiz, Switzerland. One of primary findings was that essentially no information is available about chronic effects of low doses of chemical agents, and more research needs to be conducted to determine whether data from other toxic and often similar materials can be of help. Among the topics of the 21 papers published are mathematical modeling in the problems of chemical and ecological safety, oxidative decontamination, general approaches to analyzing arsenic-containing warfare agents, and thermal plasma as a novel technique for water decontamination. No index is provided. Annotation (c)2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) There are very few data on the effects of long term exposure to low levels of toxic materialsparticularly those likely to be encountered in former chemical weapons facilities. Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop, held in Spiez, Switzerland, April 1999