This study investigates the composition and concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air-conditioned office space and low-level waste (LLW) repository sites of nuclear power plants located in Taiwan. Air samples were collected in the office space and technical rooms of administration buildings of the three nuclear power plants and in LLW repository site using canisters. Thirty-six toxic organic compounds including aromatics, CFCs and chlorinated hydrocarbons were identified and quantified using gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer (GC/MS). The results indicated that the concentrations of most determined species were similar to that in urban areas; however, the air at the LLW building contained abundant trichlorotrifluoroethane (CFC-113), trichloroethylene, toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene and CFC-12 in concentrations markedly higher than the background levels. Only toluene and 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene were detected with low concentrations in the air of LLW repository site. In addition, comparison of the ambient air concentration at several major industries and urban atmosphere revealed that the nuclear power plants emitted and/or leaked higher concentration of chlorinated hydrocarbons among them.

The holistic river basin approach of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) requires the combined assessment of ecological risks and the development of remediation measures. This paper presents a three-step strategy for the assessment of risks on Rotterdam harbour arising from historical contaminated sediment in the Rhine river basin, by the identification of (1) substances of concern, (2) areas of concern and (3) areas of risk with regard to the probability of polluting the sediments in the downstream reaches. The pragmatic approach provides initial evidence, that sediment-associated hexachlorobenzene (HCB) from the Higher and Upper Rhine has a significant effect on the quality of dredged material from Rotterdam harbour and that this HCB contamination is a candidate for the Category 1 of WFD Article 16 Source/Pathway S.11.1 'Historical Pollution from Sediments': This HCB source can contribute to a failure of the objectives of the WFD in the Rhine Basin and may require additional measures for its control.

Deposition and storage of fine sediment on channel beds represents an important component of a catchment's sediment budget and can have important implications for sediment-associated P fluxes, due to storage and remobilisation, and for P concentrations through water-sediment interactions. Spatial and temporal variations in P content and storage in fine bed sediment have been studied in two UK lowland catchments, the Rivers Frome and Piddle in Dorset. Fine bed sediment was sampled in representative reaches on a bi-monthly basis using a re-suspension cylinder, and the resulting samples were analysed for total P, a range of P fractions and particle size. The results demonstrate significant spatial and temporal variability in PP concentrations and storage, with maximum and minimum P concentrations and storage occurring in late summer and winter, respectively. Temporal variations in concentrations reflect residence times of the sediment and ambient P concentrations, while variations in storage are mainly due to hydrological regimes. Spatial variations reflect catchment characteristics, the location of inputs and local variations in hydrological and channel bed conditions.

Soil erosion and associated off-site environmental impacts have attracted increasing attention in recent decades, and there is a growing need for reliable information on rates of soil loss. The potential for using ¹³⁷Cs fallout to quantify rates and patterns of soil redistribution over medium-term timescales (ca. 45 years) has been successfully demonstrated in a wide range of environments around the world. The similar behaviour of fallout ²¹⁰Pb in soils offers potential for its use as an alternative to ¹³⁷Cs, in areas where ¹³⁷Cs inventories are low or are complicated by additional fallout from the Chernobyl accident. There have, however, to date been few attempts to validate the use of fallout ²¹⁰Pb measurements for assessing erosion rates. This paper reports an attempt to explore the use of fallout ²¹⁰Pb to estimate rates of water-induced soil erosion on uncultivated land. It focuses on three small forest/rangeland catchments located in Calabria, southern Italy, for which measurements of sediment output are available. Comparison of the estimates of net soil loss from the catchments derived from ²¹⁰Pb measurements with the measured sediment output, confirmed the validity of the ²¹⁰Pb approach. The soil redistribution rates estimated using ²¹⁰Pb measurements were also consistent with equivalent estimates obtained for the same study catchments using ¹³⁷Cs measurements.

The feasibility of degrading 16 USEPA priority polycyclic aromatic (PAH) hydrocarbons (PAHs) with heat and Fe(II)-EDTA catalyzed persulfate oxidation was investigated in the laboratory. The experiments were conducted to determine the effects of temperature (i.e. 20 [composite function (small circle)]C, 30 [composite function (small circle)]C and 40 [composite function (small circle)] C) and iron-chelate levels (i.e., 250 mg/L-, 375 mg/L- and 500 mg/L-Fe(II)) on the degradation of dissolved PAHs in aqueous systems, using a series of amber glass jars as the reactors that were placed on a shaker inside an incubator for temperature control. Each experiment was run in duplicate and had two controls (i.e., no persulfate in systems). Samples were collected after a reaction period of 144 hrs and measured for PAHs, pH and sodium persulfate levels. The extent of degradation of PAHs was determined by comparing the data for samples with the controls. The experimental results showed that persulfate oxidation under each of the tested conditions effectively degraded the 16 target PAHs. All of the targeted PAHs were degraded to below the instrument detection limits (~4 μ/L) from a range of initial concentration (i.e., 5 μ/L for benzo(a)pyrene to 57 μ/L for Phenanthrene) within 144 hrs with 5 g/L of sodium persulfate at 20 [composite function (small circle)] C, 30 [composite function (small circle)]C and 40 [composite function (small circle)]C. The data indicated that the persulfate oxidation was effective in degrading the PAHs and that external heat and iron catalysts might not be needed for the degradation of PAHs. The Fe(II)-EDTA catalyzed persulfate also effectively degraded PAHs in the study. In addition, the data on the variation of persulfate concentrations during the experiments indicated that Fe(II)-EDTA accelerated the consumption of persulfate ions. The obtained degradation data cannot be used to evaluate the influence of temperature and Fe(II) levels on the PAH degradation because the PAHs under each of the tested conditions were degraded to below the instrument detection limit within the first sampling point. However, these experiments have demonstrated the feasibility of degrading PAHs in aqueous systems with persulfate oxidation. Additional tests are being conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of treating PAHs in soils and obtaining the rate of degradation of PAHs with persulfate oxidation. Two sets of laboratory experiments were conducted to evaluate the ability of sodium persulfate in oxidizing real world PAH-contaminated soils collected from a Superfund site in Connecticut. The first set of soil sample were treated only with persulfate and to the second batch, mixture of persulfate and Fe(II)-EDTA solutions were added. The results of the second test showed that within 24 hours, 75% to 100% of the initial concentrations of seven PAH compounds detected in the soil samples were degraded by sodium persulfate mixed with FE(II)-EDTA.

Bangladesh is currently the subject of the world's largest mass arsenic poisoning in history. Groundwater throughout Bangladesh and West Bengal is contaminated with naturally occurring arsenic from the alluvial and deltaic sediments that form the region's aquifers. It has been estimated that 75 million people are at risk of developing health effects associated with the ingestion of arsenic. This project focuses on the use of microorganisms such as bacteria and algae to remove arsenic from water. Arsenic in the arsenite form was used in the studies. Experiments were conducted with a common alga and wastewater bacteria. A common green algae Scenedesmus abundans was used for determining arsenic uptake in batch experiments. Results of the experiments indicated that the algae biosorption could be modeled by the conventional Langmuir isotherm model. Algae morphology studies indicated that the algae cells were impacted due to the presence of arsenic as evidenced by clumping or loss of cell clusters. The wastewater bacteria also were capable of high percent of arsenic removal. Results indicate that microbial uptake of arsenic may be a viable method of pretreatment of arsenic contaminated water. However algae and sludge disposal would pose a problem and will have to be dealt with accordingly.

Cootes Paradise is a coastal wetland, adjacent to Hamilton Harbour at the western tip of Lake Ontario. The marsh has been considerably degraded due to the excessive sediment and nutrient input from sewage treatment plants (STPs), marsh tributaries and Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). Although there has been reduction in nutrient loadings from external sources, high nutrient levels, and a prolific algal growth remain a problem in Cootes Paradise. To assess the importance of external versus internal nutrient loadings to the marsh, nutrient fluxes from sediments were estimated using porewater profiles at three locations from 2001 and five additional sites from 2002. The fluxes varied between 0.27 and 5.25 mg P m-² day-¹, with sites receiving outfalls of STP and CSO having highest fluxes (~5 mg P m-² day-¹). Mean phosphorus release rate of 2.02 mg P m-² day-¹ was calculated from the spatial distribution of the non-apatite inorganic phosphorus (NAI-P) in sediments, employing a relationship between the NAI-P and P fluxes. The results confirm that sediment P geochemistry is important in regulating the P pool in porewater which, consequently, governs the P fluxes from sediments.

In order to improve and optimize phytoremediation of PAH we propose to focus on the rhizospheric processes controlling PAH degradation. In this paper the effect of root exudates on PAH availability is studied. Model organic compounds (malic acid, malonic acid and EDTA) representing root exudates have been tested for their effect on phenanthrene sorption on a reference non polluted agricultural soil material. Phenanthrene adsorption isotherms were first obtained with batch experiments. Results showed linear isotherms and phenanthrene sorption was enhanced as the concentration of organic compounds in the solution increased. Column leaching experiments were then used to simulate the effect of root exudation following the soil pollution. Inlet solutions containing the different organic acids used were flowed through the column containing the artificially polluted soil material. Elution curves showed that the phenanthrene was less easily eluted when the solution injected contained the organic acids. However, magnitude of the phenomena did not fit with adsorption constants obtained in batch experiments. Phenanthrene desorption appeared limited by sequestration but organic acids seemed able to partially disturb the soil material structure to limit the sequestration effect.

To reconstruct a history of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) pollution in the Gulf of Trieste, one of the largest urbanized areas in the Adriatic Sea, we analyzed three long sediment cores collected between 1996 and 1997. Concentrations of total PAHs, the sum of 16 PAH compounds and six of their methylated analogues, in all three cores show a decrease from 600-800 ng g-¹, at the surface, to levels below 250 ng g-¹ in deepest layers (down to 3 m). The same trend was shown with separate representative pyrogenic PAHs (pyrene, benzofluoranthene and phenanthrene). Using Hg as a recent geochronological tracer, we observe an increasing input of PAHs since the beginning of the 20th Century and, especially, after the Second World War coinciding with increasing industrialization and urbanization of the region. This correlation is supported by PAH ratios that are indication of combustion processes and represent a marker for anthropogenic inputs. No correlation exists between PAHs and black carbon within the core profiles, indicating two different fractions of the 'black carbon continuum'.

Cohesive sediments besides their typical heterogeneity are characterised by structural discontinuity. Particularly, organic consolidated muds are a good example of sediments that consist of vast aggregates, pore water and gaseous products. The texture of a cohesive sediment bed is a result of a number of mutually affecting factors, such as deposition history, mineral and organic composition, kind of biota and oxygen uptake. The presented work attempts to quantify the effect of sediment physical properties and sediments structure on the sediment erosion potential, considering incipient motion and erosion rate. This quantification is made on the basis of comparative testing of both unremoulded and remoulded samples of a river mud. Due attention is paid to sediment handling to preserve the delicate structure of the sediment for the laboratory experiments. Mud with two degrees of consolidation has been examined in a tilting flume under different flow situations. The test results show a typical increase of erosion strength with dry matter concentration of the mud. It has also been found that the structural properties increase the erosion strength for the less consolidated mud. An opposite effect has been recorded for a more consolidated deposit. As a consequence, due to the sediment structure, the original beds differ much less in erosion resistance in relation to the dry mass concentration than their disturbed analogues. Finally, the erosion resistance of the examined mud is compared with data from the literature.