CORP Author |
Environmental Health & Engineering, Inc., Needham Heights, MA.; National Risk Management Research Lab., Cincinnati, OH. Office of Research and Development.; Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC. National Risk Management Research Lab. |
Abstract |
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of persistent organochlorine chemicals that formerly had numerous commercial applications in the United States. Used primarily as an insulator in electrical equipment, PCBs were also a component of construction materials such as caulk, adhesives, and paints. Concentrations of PCBs in building materials frequently exceed levels authorized by U.S. regulations. A wide range of public and commercial buildings have been identified as being at risk of having PCB-containing materials. In September 2009, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provided initial guidance to property managers, particularly administrators of schools, on approaches to managing potential exposures to PCBs in building materials (EPA, 2011a). The guidance from EPA complements the requirements in Title 40 Part 761 of the Code of Federal Regulations for characterization and disposal of waste materials that contain PCBs. Managing potential exposures to PCBs and complying with regulatory requirements are priorities for property managers, and interest has grown about methods for remediation of PCBs in building materials. Environmental Health & Engineering (EH&E) was retained by the EPA National Risk Management Laboratory to review the literature on remediation methods for PCB-containing building materials. The purpose of this report is to help EPA and other stakeholders identify the approaches in use today to control release of PCBs from building materials, protect public health, and meet regulatory criteria. The review of the literature is not intended as a guide to select the optmal method to remediate PCBs in a particlar buiding, but rather to compile information on the performance of current methods and to provide recommendations for furher development of remediaton methods for PCBs in building materials. |