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LIFE-CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT DEMONSTRATION FOR THE GBU-24
Citation:
Tolle, D., B. Vigon, AND D. Evers. LIFE-CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT DEMONSTRATION FOR THE GBU-24. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-98/070 (NTIS PB99-102659), 1999.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
The primary goal of this project was to develop and demonstrate a life-cycle impact assessment (LCIA) approach using existing life-cycle inventory (LCI) data on one of the propellants, energetics, and pyro-technic (PEP) materials of interest to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Since the PEP program framework is strongly oriented around life-cycle assessment (LCA), a baseline LCI of the guided bomb unit-24 (GBU-24) made with RDX explosives had been conducted prior to this study and was selected as a test case for this LCIA. An LCIA methodology and model-ing approach were developed based on the Society of Environmental Toxi-cology and Chemistry,s (SETAC,s) Level 2/3 equivalency assessment framework and applied to the previously collected GBU-24 LCI data. The LCIA methodology based on impact equivalencies described in this study provides a much more accurate approach to potential impact evalu-ation than the &less-is-best8 approach (SETAC Level 1) using inventory data only. The method described in this report includes both regional scaling factors to improve characterization accuracy and geographically-relevant normalization factors to provide perspective. This bench-marking analy-sis can be used for comparison with alternative energetics.