RADIONUCLIDES

1
RADIONUCLIDES

• JOE DUROCHER
• NEW JERSEY DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
• BUREAU OF SAFE DRINKING WATER

2
HEALTH EFFECTS

• EXPOSURE TO RADIONUCLIDES IN DRINKING WATER CAN
  INCREASE ONES LIFETIME RISK OF DEVELOPING CANCER
• MCL 1 IN 10,000 INCREASED RISK OF CANCER DUE TO
  RADIOACTIVITY IN DRINKING WATER
• RADIUM - BONE CANCER
• URANIUM - KIDNEY DAMAGE/FAILURE
• RADON - LUNG CANCER

3
MAXIMUM CONTAMINANT LEVELS (1976 RULE)

• GROSS ALPHA ACTIVITY MCL 15 piC/L
• (avg. 4 consecutive quarters w/o contribution
  from uranium and radon)
• IF GROSS a 5 piC/L, THEN MUST TEST FOR
• COMBINED RADIUM 226 228 5 pCi/L (avg. 4
  consecutive quarters)
• NO MCL FOR URANIUM
• NO MCL FOR RADON

4
RADIONUCLIDE MCLs (1976 RULE)

• BETA PARTICLE AND PHOTON RADIOACTIVITY (from
  man-made radionuclides) MCL 4 mrem/year annual
  dose equivalent to the total body or any internal
  organ
• GROSS b SCREENING LEVEL OF 50 pCi/L
• Tritium - 20,000 pCi/L - total body dose
• Strontium-90 - 8 pCi/L - bone marrow dose

5
COMPLIANCE (1976 RULE)

• RULE APPLIES TO ALL PCWS
• FOUR-YEAR COMPLIANCE PERIOD
• (e.g., July 1, 2000 June 30, 2004)
• 4 CONSECUTIVE QUARTERLY DISTRIBUTION SAMPLES
  REQUIRED
• SINGLE SAMPLE MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR QUARTERLY
  SAMPLING IF GROSS a ACTIVITY AND RADIUM 226 228
  
  piC/L FOR COMBINED RADIUM 226 228)

6
1991 USEPA RULE PROPOSAL

• EXTEND REGS TO APPLY TO NTNCWS
• ESTABLISH POE AS POINT OF COMPLIANCE
• CHANGE COMBINED RADIUM 226 228 MCL FROM 5 piC/L
  TO SEPARATE MCLs OF 20 piC/L EACH
• REVISE GROSS a MCL TO EXCLUDE RADIUM 226 IN
  ADDITION TO RADON AND URANIUM
• ESTABLISH URANIUM MCL OF 20 mg/L
• ESTABLISH RADON MCL OF 300 piC/L
• STANDARD MONITORING FRAMEWORK

7
1991 USEPA RULE PROPOSAL

• THE RADON PROPOSAL NOT FINALIZED BEFORE THE 1996
  SDWA AMENDMENTS

8
FINAL RADIONUCLIDE RULE

• ADOPTED BY USEPA - DEC. 7, 2000
• BECOMES EFFECTIVE ON DEC. 8, 2003
• APPLIES ONLY TO PCWS
• REQUIRES MONITORING AT THE POE
• SEPARATE MONITORING FOR RA-228
• ESTABLISHES NEW MCL FOR URANIUM
• CHANGE IN MONITORING FREQUENCY

9
RADIONUCLIDE MCLs(2000 RULE)

• GROSS ALPHA ACTIVITY (less Rn U)
• 15 piC/L
• COMBINED RA-226 RA-228
• 5 piC/L
• GROSS a MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR RA-226 IF piC/L
• URANIUM
• 30 mg/L
• GROSS a MAY BE SUBSTITUTED FOR URANIUM IF piC/L

10
MONITORING SCHEME

• ANALYZE GROSS a PARTICLE RADIOACTIVITY AND
  RADIUM-228
• 2) IF GROSS a 5 pCi/L, ANALYZE RADIUM-226
• IF GROSS a 15 pCi/L, ANALYZE URANIUM
• BETA PARTICLE AND PHOTON RADIOACTIVITY NOT
  REQUIRED UNLESS DESIGNATED AS VULNERABLE AND
  NOTIFIED BY DEP

11
MONITORING REQUIREMENTS (2000 RULE)

• INITIAL MONITORING
• 4 CONSECUTIVE QUARTERS OF MONITORING AT EACH POE
• DEC. 8, 2003 TO DEC. 31, 2007
• STATE MAY GRANDFATHER DATA TAKEN BETWEEN JUNE
  2000 AND DECEMBER 8, 2003
• STANDARD MONITORING FRAMEWORK
• FIRST COMPLIANCE PERIOD IS 2008 - 2016

12
INITIAL MONITORING

• DEC. 8, 2003 DEC. 31, 2007
• 4 CONSECUTIVE POE SAMPLES
• STATE MAY WAIVE FINAL TWO QUARTERS IF GROSS a
  RESULTS FROM PREVIOUS TWO QUARTERS IS BELOW
  DETECTION LIMIT

13
DETECTION LIMITS

• BETA/PHOTON EMITTERS 4 piC/L
• GROSS a PARTICLE ACTIVITY 3 piC/L
• COMBINED RADIUM 226/228 1 piC/L

14
DATA GRANDFATHERING

• DEP MAY GRANDFATHER DATA FOR SAMPLES TAKEN JUNE
  2000 DEC. 8, 2003 IF COLLECTED FROM
• EACH ENTRY POINT TO DIST. SYSTEM
• DIST. SYSTEM IF SYSTEM HAS A SINGLE ENTRY POINT
  TO DIST. SYSTEM
• DIST. SYSTEM WITH MULTIPLE WELLS OR POES WHICH
  TAP THE SAME AQUIFER WITH SIMILAR CHARACTERISTICS
  

15
DATA GRANDFATHERING

• TO QUALIFY, SYSTEMS MUST ASSEMBLE ALL APPROPRIATE
  DATA WITH COVER LETTER REQUESTING DEP ACCEPT
  DATA IN LIEU OF INITIAL QUARTERLY MONITORING
  SUBMIT TO
• BUREAU OF SAFE DRINKING WATER
• NJDEP WATER SUPPLY ADMINISTRATION
• P.O. BOX 426
• TRENTON, NJ 08625-0426
• DURING 2004, DEP WILL EVALUATE SUBMISSIONS

16
INCREASED MONITORING

• SYSTEM WITH POE RESULT ABOVE THE MCL MUST RETURN
  TO QUARTERLY SAMPLING UNTIL 4 CONSECUTIVE
  QUARTERLY SAMPLES ARE BELOW THE MCL

17
REDUCED MONITORING

• IF BELOW MDL, THEN ONE SAMPLE EVERY NINE YEARS
• ONCE IN 2008-2016
• IF MDL, BUT EVERY SIX YEARS
• ONCE IN 2008-2013
• IF 50 OF THE MCL, BUT EVERY 3 YEARS
• ONCE IN 2008-2010

18

19

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NJSDWA READOPTION PROPOSAL

• STANDARD MONITORING FRAMEWORK
• 3-YEAR MONITORING PERIOD WITHIN A 9-YEAR
  MONITORING CYCLE
• FOR INITIAL MONITORING PERIOD
• 1) YEAR 2005 - CWS USING SURFACE WATER OR
  CWS SERVING OVER 10,000
• 2) YEAR 2006 - CWS SERVING 10,000 OR LESS
• 3) YEAR 2007 - NO CWS SAMPLING REQUIRED
• 2004 SAMPLING WILL BE ACCEPTED BUT NOT REQUIRED

21
NJSDWA READOPTION PROPOSAL

• ANALYSIS FOR GROSS ALPHA RADIOACTIVITY SHALL BE
  DETERMINED USING THE 48-HOUR RAPID GROSS ALPHA
  TEST, IN ACCORDANCE WITH N.J.A.C. 718
• SYSTEM UTILIZING TREATMENT DEVICE OR PROCESS TO
  BRING WATER INTO COMPLIANCE WITH MCL SHALL
  MONITOR EACH CALENDAR QUARTER

22
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS IN NEW JERSEY

• 1987 - NEW WELL TEST IN GLOUCESTER CO. EXCEEDS
  RADIUM MCL
• USGS PERFORMS JOINTLY FUNDED WITH DEP STUDIES ON
  KIRKWOOD-COHANSEY AQUIFER
• ELEVATED LEVELS OF RADIUM PRESENT IN THIS AQUIFER
• PROMPTS PUBLIC CONCERN, LEGISLATION, DEP
  HOMEOWNERS GUIDE

23
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS

• DHSS CANCER CLUSTER INVESTIGATION IN DOVER TWP.
  WITH EXTENSIVE TESTING OF WATER SYSTEM
• GROSS a ACTIVITY LEVELS ATTRIBUTED TO SHORT-LIVED
  RADIONUCLIDE
• RADIUM-224 (half-life is 3.7 days)
• USGS BEGINS JOINTLY FUNDED STUDY WITH DEP AND A
  NATIONAL STUDY FUNDED BY EPA ON RADIUM-224

24
RADIUM

• RADIUM 226
• half-life 1,620 yrs
• RADIUM 228
• half-life 5.76 yrs
• RADIUM 224
• half-life 3.7 days
• EPA DOES NOT SPECIFY HOLDING TIME FOR GROSS ALPHA
  ANALYSIS

25
RESEARCH AND FINDINGS

• DHSS RADIOLOGICAL LABORATORY DEVELOPS THE SHORT
  TERM (48-HOUR) GROSS ALPHA PROTOCOL TO CAPTURE
  RADIOACTIVITY FROM RADIUM 224
• DEP DECIDES TO MONITOR SYSTEMS FOR 1996 - 2000
  COMPLIANCE PERIOD USING THE SHORT TERM GROSS
  ALPHA TEST
• USGS AND DEP SUGGEST THAT EPA CONSIDER THE SHORT
  TERM GROSS ALPHA ISSUE

26
1996 2000 COMPLIANCE

• Of 606 CWS
• 23 Gross a MCL violations
• 5 also exceeded combined radium MCL
• 123 systems conducted quarterly monitoring

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2001 - 2002 NTNC STUDY

• 892 NTNC systems were sampled
• 34 systems exceeded gross a and/or radium MCLs

28
RADIONUCLIDESIN NEW JERSEY

• IN AREAS OF NEW JERSEY WITH ELEVATED LEVELS
• GROSS ALPHA ACTIVITY VARIES FROM JUST ABOVE 15
  pCi/L TO 200 pCi/L
• COMBINED RA-226 RA-228 VARIES FROM 3 TO 10
  pCi/L
• COMBINED RA-226 RA-228 HAS BEEN MEASURED AS
  HIGH AS 70 pCi/L IN NJ

29
ANTICIPATED EFFECTS OF NEW RULE IN NEW JERSEY

• WE ESTIMATE THAT APPROX. 20 MORE PCWS WILL EXCEED
  GROSS a MCL WHEN COMPLIANCE IS REQUIRED AT POE
• WE ESTIMATE THAT 7-10 PCWS WILL EXCEED URANIUM
  MCL (SUSSEX COUNTY)

30
URANIUM

• APPROVED METHODS OF ANALYSIS MAY MEASURE URANIUM
  AS ACTIVITY (pCi/L) OR MASS (mg/L)
• pCi/L NEEDED TO DETERMINE COMPLIANCE WITH GROSS a
  MCL
• mg/L NEEDED TO DETERMINE COMPLIANCE WITH URANIUM
  MCL

31
URANIUM

• ISOTOPIC VARIABILITY OF URANIUM
• MASS OF U-238 IS 20,000 TIMES HEAVIER THAN MASS
  OF U-234
• 30 mg URANIUM IS ESSENTIALLY 30 mg U-238

32
URANIUM

• WHEN MEASURED ISOTOPICALLY, ACTUAL ACTIVITY AND
  MASS CAN BE DETERMINED - RECOMMENDED
• DOHSS RADIOLOGICAL LABORATORY
• WHEN MEASURED IN MASS UNITS AND U-234/U-238 RATIO
  IS UNKNOWN, THEN UNABLE TO DETERMINE COMPLIANCE
  WITH GROSS a MCL
• WHEN MEASURED IN ACTIVITY UNITS, BUT NOT
  ISOTOPICALLY, THEN UNABLE TO DETERMINE COMPLIANCE
  WITH URANIUM MCL
• PROPOSED CONVERSION FACTOR
• 0.67 pCi / 1 mg ASSUMES AN EQUAL 11 RATIO OF
  URANIUM-234 AND URANIUM-238
• CONSERVATIVE APPROACH