Health Risk Assessments for Alumina Refineries

OBJECTIVE:To describe contemporary air dispersion modeling and health risk assessment methodologies applied to alumina refineries and to summarize recent results. METHODS:Air dispersion models using emission source and meteorological data have been used to assess ground-level concentrations (GLCs) o...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 2014-05, Vol.56 (5S), p.S18-S22
Main Authors: Donoghue, A. Michael, Coffey, Patrick S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air Movements
Air Pollutants
Alumina
Aluminum Oxide
Australia
Carcinogens
Dispersion
Emissions
Environmental Exposure
Environmental Monitoring
Health risk assessment
Humans
Mathematical models
Metallurgy
Models, Theoretical
Original
Original Article
Refineries
Risk Assessment
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Summary:OBJECTIVE:To describe contemporary air dispersion modeling and health risk assessment methodologies applied to alumina refineries and to summarize recent results. METHODS:Air dispersion models using emission source and meteorological data have been used to assess ground-level concentrations (GLCs) of refinery emissions. Short-term (1-hour and 24-hour average) GLCs and annual average GLCs have been used to assess acute health, chronic health, and incremental carcinogenic risks. RESULTS:The acute hazard index can exceed 1 close to refineries, but it is typically less than 1 at neighboring residential locations. The chronic hazard index is typically substantially less than 1. The incremental carcinogenic risk is typically less than 10. CONCLUSIONS:The risks of acute health effects are adequately controlled, and the risks of chronic health effects and incremental carcinogenic risks are negligible around referenced alumina refineries.
ISSN:1076-2752
1536-5948
DOI:10.1097/JOM.0000000000000011