11 research outputs found
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Environmental Protection Department Operations and Regulatory Affairs Division LLNL NESHAPs 2005 Annual Report
This annual report is prepared pursuant to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPs; Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Part 61, Subpart H). Subpart H governs radionuclide emissions to air from Department of Energy (DOE) facilities. NESHAPs limits the emission of radionuclides to the ambient air from DOE facilities to levels resulting in an annual effective dose equivalent (EDE) of 10 mrem (100 {micro}Sv) to any member of the public. The EDEs for the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) site-wide maximally exposed members of the public from operations in 2005 are summarized here. Livermore site: 0.0065 mrem (0.065 {micro}Sv) (41% from point source emissions, 59% from diffuse source emissions). The point source emissions include gaseous tritium modeled as tritiated water vapor as directed by EPA Region IX; the resulting dose is used for compliance purposes. Site 300: 0.018 mrem (0.18 {micro}Sv) (48% from point source emissions, 52% from diffuse source emissions). The EDEs were calculated using the EPA-approved CAP88-PC air dispersion/dose-assessment model, except for doses for two diffuse sources that were estimated using measured radionuclide concentrations and dose coefficients. Specific inputs to CAP88-PC for the modeled sources included site-specific meteorological data and source emissions data, the latter variously based on continuous stack effluent monitoring data, stack flow or other release-rate information, ambient air monitoring data, and facility knowledge
Environmental Monitoring Plan, Revision 6
The purpose of environmental monitoring is to promote the early identification of, and response to, potential adverse environmental impacts associated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) operations. Environmental monitoring supports the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard, and U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 458.1, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment. Specifically, environmental monitoring enables LLNL to detect, characterize, and respond to releases from LLNL activities; assess impacts; estimate dispersal patterns in the environment; characterize the pathways of exposure to members of the public; characterize the exposures and doses to individuals and to the population; and to evaluate the potential impacts to the biota in the vicinity of LLNL. Environmental monitoring is also a major component of compliance demonstration for permits and other regulatory requirements. The Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) addresses the sample collection and analytical work supporting environmental monitoring to ensure the following: (1) A consistent system for collecting, assessing, and documenting environmental data of known and documented quality; (2) A validated and consistent approach for sampling and analysis of samples to ensure laboratory data meets program-specific needs and requirements within the framework of a performance-based approach for analytical laboratory work; and (3) An integrated sampling approach to avoid duplicative data collection. LLNL prepares the EMP because it provides an organizational framework for ensuring that environmental monitoring work, which is integral to the implementation of LLNL's Environmental Management System, is conducted appropriately. Furthermore, the Environmental Monitoring Plan helps LLNL ensure compliance with DOE Order 231.1 Change 2, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting, which require the publication of an annual report that characterizes the site's environmental management performance. To summarize, the general regulatory drivers for this environmental monitoring plan are ISO 14001, DOE Order 458.1, and DOE Order 231.1. The environmental monitoring addressed by this plan includes preoperational characterization and assessment, effluent and surveillance monitoring, and permit and regulatory compliance monitoring. Additional environmental monitoring is conducted at LLNL as part of compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund). LLNL coordinates its ground water surveillance monitoring program with the CERCLA monitoring program to gain sampling efficiencies
Global overview of the management of acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic (CHOLECOVID study)
Background: This study provides a global overview of the management of patients with acute cholecystitis during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: CHOLECOVID is an international, multicentre, observational comparative study of patients admitted to hospital with acute cholecystitis during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data on management were collected for a 2-month study interval coincident with the WHO declaration of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and compared with an equivalent pre-pandemic time interval. Mediation analysis examined the influence of SARS-COV-2 infection on 30-day mortality. Results: This study collected data on 9783 patients with acute cholecystitis admitted to 247 hospitals across the world. The pandemic was associated with reduced availability of surgical workforce and operating facilities globally, a significant shift to worse severity of disease, and increased use of conservative management. There was a reduction (both absolute and proportionate) in the number of patients undergoing cholecystectomy from 3095 patients (56.2 per cent) pre-pandemic to 1998 patients (46.2 per cent) during the pandemic but there was no difference in 30-day all-cause mortality after cholecystectomy comparing the pre-pandemic interval with the pandemic (13 patients (0.4 per cent) pre-pandemic to 13 patients (0.6 per cent) pandemic; P = 0.355). In mediation analysis, an admission with acute cholecystitis during the pandemic was associated with a non-significant increased risk of death (OR 1.29, 95 per cent c.i. 0.93 to 1.79, P = 0.121). Conclusion: CHOLECOVID provides a unique overview of the treatment of patients with cholecystitis across the globe during the first months of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The study highlights the need for system resilience in retention of elective surgical activity. Cholecystectomy was associated with a low risk of mortality and deferral of treatment results in an increase in avoidable morbidity that represents the non-COVID cost of this pandemic
Purification of cross-linked RNA-protein complexes by phenol-toluol extraction
Recent methodological advances allowed the identification of an increasing number of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and their RNA-binding sites. Most of those methods rely, however, on capturing proteins associated to polyadenylated RNAs which neglects RBPs bound to non-adenylate RNA classes (tRNA, rRNA, pre-mRNA) as well as the vast majority of species that lack poly-A tails in their mRNAs (including all archea and bacteria). We have developed the Phenol Toluol extraction (PTex) protocol that does not rely on a specific RNA sequence or motif for isolation of cross-linked ribonucleoproteins (RNPs), but rather purifies them based entirely on their physicochemical properties. PTex captures RBPs that bind to RNA as short as 30 nt, RNPs directly from animal tissue and can be used to simplify complex workflows such as PAR-CLIP. Finally, we provide a global RNA-bound proteome of human HEK293 cells and the bacterium Salmonella Typhimurium
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Environmental Monitoring Plan, Revision 5
The purpose of environmental monitoring is to promote the early identification of, and response to, potential adverse environmental impacts associated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) operations. Environmental monitoring supports the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard, and U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 450.1A, Environmental Protection Program. Specifically, in conformance with DOE Order 450.1A, Attachment 1, paragraph 1(b)(5), environmental monitoring enables LLNL to detect, characterize, and respond to releases from LLNL activities; assess impacts; estimate dispersal patterns in the environment; characterize the pathways of exposure to members of the public; characterize the exposures and doses to individuals and to the population; and to evaluate the potential impacts to the biota in the vicinity of LLNL. Environmental monitoring also serves to demonstrate compliance with permits and other regulatory requirements. The Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) addresses the sample collection and analytical work supporting environmental monitoring to ensure the following: (1) A consistent system for collecting, assessing, and documenting environmental data of known and documented quality. (2) A validated and consistent approach for sampling and analysis of samples to ensure laboratory data meets program-specific needs and requirements within the framework of a performance-based approach for analytical laboratory work. (3) An integrated sampling approach to avoid duplicative data collection. Until its cancellation in January 2003, DOE Order 5400.1 required the preparation of an environmental monitoring plan. Neither DOE Order 450.1A nor the ISO 14001 standard are as prescriptive as DOE Order 5400.1, in that neither expressly requires an EMP. However, LLNL continues to prepare the EMP because it provides an organizational framework for ensuring that this work, which is integral to the implementation of LLNL's Environmental Management System, is conducted appropriately. Furthermore, the Environmental Monitoring Plan helps LLNL ensure compliance with DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment, and DOE Order 231.1 Change 2, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting, which require the publication of an annual report that characterizes the site's environmental management performance. To summarize, the general regulatory drivers for this environmental monitoring plan are ISO 14001, DOE Order 450.1A, DOE Order 5400.5, and DOE Order 231.1. The environmental monitoring addressed by this plan includes preoperational characterization and assessment, effluent and surveillance monitoring, and permit and regulatory compliance monitoring. Additional environmental monitoring is conducted at LLNL as part of compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund). LLNL coordinates its ground water surveillance monitoring program with the CERCLA monitoring program to gain sampling efficiencies. (See LLNL [1992] and LLNL [2008] for information about LLNL's CERCLA activities)
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Environmental Monitoring Plan, Revision 6
The purpose of environmental monitoring is to promote the early identification of, and response to, potential adverse environmental impacts associated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) operations. Environmental monitoring supports the Integrated Safety Management System (ISMS), International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 Environmental Management Systems standard, and U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) Order 458.1, Radiation Protection of the Public and the Environment. Specifically, environmental monitoring enables LLNL to detect, characterize, and respond to releases from LLNL activities; assess impacts; estimate dispersal patterns in the environment; characterize the pathways of exposure to members of the public; characterize the exposures and doses to individuals and to the population; and to evaluate the potential impacts to the biota in the vicinity of LLNL. Environmental monitoring is also a major component of compliance demonstration for permits and other regulatory requirements. The Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP) addresses the sample collection and analytical work supporting environmental monitoring to ensure the following: (1) A consistent system for collecting, assessing, and documenting environmental data of known and documented quality; (2) A validated and consistent approach for sampling and analysis of samples to ensure laboratory data meets program-specific needs and requirements within the framework of a performance-based approach for analytical laboratory work; and (3) An integrated sampling approach to avoid duplicative data collection. LLNL prepares the EMP because it provides an organizational framework for ensuring that environmental monitoring work, which is integral to the implementation of LLNL's Environmental Management System, is conducted appropriately. Furthermore, the Environmental Monitoring Plan helps LLNL ensure compliance with DOE Order 231.1 Change 2, Environment, Safety and Health Reporting, which require the publication of an annual report that characterizes the site's environmental management performance. To summarize, the general regulatory drivers for this environmental monitoring plan are ISO 14001, DOE Order 458.1, and DOE Order 231.1. The environmental monitoring addressed by this plan includes preoperational characterization and assessment, effluent and surveillance monitoring, and permit and regulatory compliance monitoring. Additional environmental monitoring is conducted at LLNL as part of compliance with the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA, also known as Superfund). LLNL coordinates its ground water surveillance monitoring program with the CERCLA monitoring program to gain sampling efficiencies
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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Environmental Report 2010
The purposes of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Environmental Report 2010 are to record Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's (LLNL's) compliance with environmental standards and requirements, describe LLNL's environmental protection and remediation programs, and present the results of environmental monitoring at the two LLNL sites - the Livermore site and Site 300. The report is prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) by LLNL's Environmental Protection Department. Submittal of the report satisfies requirements under DOE Order 231.1A, Environmental Safety and Health Reporting, and DOE Order 5400.5, Radiation Protection of the Public and Environment. The report is distributed electronically and is available at https://saer.llnl.gov/, the website for the LLNL annual environmental report. Previous LLNL annual environmental reports beginning in 1994 are also on the website. Some references in the electronic report text are underlined, which indicates that they are clickable links. Clicking on one of these links will open the related document, data workbook, or website that it refers to. The report begins with an executive summary, which provides the purpose of the report and an overview of LLNL's compliance and monitoring results. The first three chapters provide background information: Chapter 1 is an overview of the location, meteorology, and hydrogeology of the two LLNL sites; Chapter 2 is a summary of LLNL's compliance with environmental regulations; and Chapter 3 is a description of LLNL's environmental programs with an emphasis on the Environmental Management System including pollution prevention. The majority of the report covers LLNL's environmental monitoring programs and monitoring data for 2010: effluent and ambient air (Chapter 4); waters, including wastewater, storm water runoff, surface water, rain, and groundwater (Chapter 5); and terrestrial, including soil, sediment, vegetation, foodstuff, ambient radiation, and special status wildlife and plants (Chapter 6). Complete monitoring data, which are summarized in the body of the report, are provided in Appendix A. The remaining three chapters discuss the radiological impact on the public from LLNL operations (Chapter 7), LLNL's groundwater remediation program (Chapter 8), and quality assurance for the environmental monitoring programs (Chapter 9). The report uses System International units, consistent with the federal Metric Conversion Act of 1975 and Executive Order 12770, Metric Usage in Federal Government Programs (1991). For ease of comparison to environmental reports issued prior to 1991, dose values and many radiological measurements are given in both metric and U.S. customary units. A conversion table is provided in the glossary