Fate of Radiopharmaceuticals in the Environment

After World War II, the use of artificially produced radionuclides in medicine began and led to great success in the fight against cancer and other diseases. However, the highly radioactive compounds had to be handled with great care to protect patients and hospital personnel from radiation. The survey of these radionuclides in the environment followed some years later. In Switzerland, double-tracked monitoring programs were started. On the emission side, hospitals and industries handling radiopharmaceuticals had to report their consummation of radionuclides yearly. A monitoring program of their waste waters and solid wastes was also started. On the immission side, the remaining radioactive wastes, which were released to the environment, had to be surveyed. Overall, only a few violations of the limits for radiopharmaceuticals were observed over the last 30 years in Switzerland. Nevertheless, the monitoring of radioactivity in the environment remains an important task as long as radionuclides are used in medicine

Medical Waste Regulation: Recommendations for Cleaning Up the Mess

In many applications, design or analysis is performed over a finite frequency range of interest. The importance of the H2/robust H2 norm highlights the necessity of computing this norm accordingly. This paper provides different methods for computing upper bounds on the robust finite-frequency H2 norm for systems with structured uncertainties. An application of the robust finite-frequency H2 norm for a comfort analysis problem of an aero-elastic model of an aircraft is also presented

Risk of congenital anomalies around a municipal solid waste incinerator: a GIS-based case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Waste incineration releases into the environment toxic substances having a teratogenic potential, but little epidemiologic evidence is available on this topic. We aimed at examining the relation between exposure to the emissions from a municipal solid waste incinerator and risk of birth defects in a northern Italy community, using Geographical Information System (GIS) data to estimate exposure and a population-based case-control study design. By modelling the incinerator emissions, we defined in the GIS three areas of increasing exposure according to predicted dioxins concentrations. We mapped the 228 births and induced abortions with diagnosis of congenital anomalies observed during the 1998–2006 period, together with a corresponding series of control births matched for year and hospital of birth/abortion as well as maternal age, using maternal address in the first three months of pregnancy to geocode cases and controls.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among women residing in the areas with medium and high exposure, prevalence of anomalies in the offspring was substantially comparable to that observed in the control population, nor dose-response relations for any of the major categories of birth defects emerged. Furthermore, odds ratio for congenital anomalies did not decrease during a prolonged shut-down period of the plant.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Overall, these findings do not lend support to the hypothesis that the environmental contamination occurring around an incineration plant such as that examined in this study may induce major teratogenic effects.</p

Sustainable Biogas Production in Municipal Wastewater Treatment Plants

This report deals with anaerobic digestion (AD) of sewage sludge, an energy- and nutrient-rich by-product of wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The objective is to promote sustainable practices and technology, focussing on energy efficiency of biogas production and utilisation. An overview of the AD process in WWTP is given, along with standard energy performances, nutrient recycling and different process options and their impacts. However, it is by no means intended as a detailed technical guideline for project management. The report is aimed at energy policy and decision makers as well as WWTP operators and was produced by IEA Bioenergy Task 37, an expert working group that addresses challenges related to the economic and environmental sustainability of biogas production and utilisation.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor

Human biomonitoring to define occupational exposure and health risks in waste incinerator plants

Contribution to the research on the relationship between exposure to ambient pollutants and diseases comes from human biomonitoring data collection and interpretation. The 21 biomonitoring studies reviewed are mainly aimed at providing either information on exposure amongst worker subgroups, serving as a reference, or information on the relationship between exposure and toxicity. Attention was also paid to the relationship between internal biomarker dose and environmental pollution levels through a combined use of biomonitoring epidemiological study design and environmental monitoring. Marker levels of internal dose (in blood and urine), DNA damage and oxidative stress tend to be higher mostly in highly exposed workers, i.e. those employed in furnace maintenance, residue transfer, cleaning operations, metal disposal and all activities where there is direct contact with fly ash. The presence of old furnaces or non-upgraded plants was associated with acute and chronic health problems in workers

Best Environmental Management Practice for the Waste Management Sector

The way communities generate and manage their waste plays an absolutely key role in their ability to use resources efficiently. While making European economy more resource efficient and circular requires a large spectrum of actions, a huge potential for saving resources lays in improving waste management at local level in Europe. On the basis of an in-depth analysis of the actions implemented by frontrunner organisations in the waste management sector, this report describes a set of best practices with high potential for broad uptake. They are called Best Environmental Management Practices (BEMPs) and aim to help local authorities in charge of waste management and waste management companies move towards circular economy. The BEMPs, identified in close cooperation with a technical working group comprising experts from the sector, cover the waste management areas which determine the most the overall waste management performance: setting a waste management strategy, promoting waste prevention, establishing an efficient waste collection that supports re-use and recycling, and stimulating waste and product re-use. Certain areas of waste treatment are also covered. The BEMPs address mainly the management of municipal solid waste, but also of construction and demolition waste and healthcare waste. Additionally, the report provides a set of environmental performance indicators that organisations can use to assess their waste management performance and monitor progress as well as benchmarks of excellence that give an indication of the levels achieved by best performers. The report presents a wide range of information (environmental benefits, economics, case studies, references, etc.) for each of the best practices and aims to provide inspiration and guidance to organisations of the sector. In addition, the report will be the technical basis for the development of an EMAS (EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme) Sectoral Reference Document on Best Environmental Management Practice for the Waste Management sector according to Article 46 of Regulation (EC) No 1221/2009 (EMAS Regulation).JRC.B.5-Circular Economy and Industrial Leadershi

Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Waste Sector from Salvador: Comparative Analysis of the Results and Gaps Found in the First and Second Inventory

Salvador is seeking to implement new low carbon technologies and establish a process for managing the risks and opportunities represented by climate change since it published its first inventory about of the Greenhouse Gas Emissions in 2016 The continuity of these actions is seen with the publication of its second inventory in 2020 The existing bibliography on urban inventories of Greenhouse Gas Emissions GHG proves the importance and potential of cities to contribute to tackling climate change The inventory is the instrument for monitoring and controlling these emissions so its quality is fundamental to support the proposal of mitigating actions One of the challenges pointed out by the scientific community is the comparability of urban GHG inventories This work has as main objective to carry out a comparative analysis of the results of the Waste Sector presented in the first and second Inventory of Emissions of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Salvador and to identify important gaps that still exist Thus it is intended to contribute to promoting improvements in its next revisions and updates Considering the measurement methodology adopted and after analyzing the results presented opportunities for improvement were identified for the Waste Sector considered insufficient in the two inventories in Salvado

Life cycle assessment (LCA) applied to the process industry: a review

Purpose : Life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology is a well-established analytical method to quantify environmental impacts, which has been mainly applied to products. However, recent literature would suggest that it has also the potential as an analysis and design tool for processes, and stresses that one of the biggest challenges of this decade in the field of process systems engineering (PSE) is the development of tools for environmental considerations. Method : This article attempts to give an overview of the integration of LCA methodology in the context of industrial ecology, and focuses on the use of this methodology for environmental considerations concerning process design and optimization. Results : The review identifies that LCA is often used as a multi-objective optimization of processes: practitioners use LCA to obtain the inventory and inject the results into the optimization model. It also shows that most of the LCA studies undertaken on process analysis consider the unit processes as black boxes and build the inventory analysis on fixed operating conditions. Conclusions : The article highlights the interest to better assimilate PSE tools with LCA methodology, in order to produce a more detailed analysis. This will allow optimizing the influence of process operating conditions on environmental impacts and including detailed environmental results into process industry