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PAGE TITLE GOES HERE RISK ASSESSMENT




SPRGS FOR
RADIONUCLIDES

 * Home Page
 * User's Guide
 * What's New
 * Frequent Questions
 * Equations
 * Calculator
 * Radionuclide Decay Chain
 * Generic Tables


SPRG HOME


WELCOME

Welcome to the EPA's "Preliminary Remediation Goals for Radionuclides on Outdoor
Surfaces at Superfund Sites" (SPRG) Download and Calculator website. The
recommended SPRGs on this website are preliminary remediation goals (PRGs) for
contaminated outdoor hard surfaces, such as building slabs, outside building
walls, sidewalks, and roads. PRGs are addressed in the NCP and EPA CERCLA
guidance. Typically, PRGs are risk-based, conservative screening values to
identify areas and contaminants of potential concern (COPCs) that may warrant
further investigation.

This tool presents recommended risk-based SPRGs calculated using default input
parameters and the latest toxicity values. In addition, users are able to modify
the input parameters to create site-specific SPRGs to meet the specific site
needs, considering factors related to the underlying exposure scenarios,
pathways, and routes. To learn more about the use of these recommended SPRGs,
please see further guidance located in the "User's Guide", "What's New", 'FAQ",
and "Download Area" links. Below is a general description of SPRG use involving
radionuclides. The EPA has prepared a fact sheet for the general public that
describes SPRG uses, SPRG calculator operation, and land uses available for
assessment. Additionally, this fact sheet describes the SPRG and SDCC
calculators in greater detail for EPA staff. The OSWER Directive, Superfund
Radiation Risk Assessment: A Community Toolkit was also developed by the EPA to
help the public understand more about the risk assessment process used at
Superfund sites with radioactive contamination.

The SPRG calculator results were previously verified. The documentation from
these may be seen on the Internal Verification and External Verification pages.
The SPRG calculator was previously peer reviewed, and the documentation of those
peer reviews may be seen here. A comparison review that focused on describing
the default parameters in various models may be found here. The Superfund
approach of consistency between its risk assessments for chemical and
radiological contamination, and its use of slope factors/risk coefficients to
develop cleanup levels, has received outside high level risk management/policy
and scientific review which is discussed here.


INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this recommended SPRG calculation tool is to assist risk
assessors, remedial project managers, and others involved with risk assessment
and decision-making at sites with contaminated outdoor hard surfaces, such as
buildings, slabs, outside building walls, sidewalk, and roads.

This website was updated after new EPA guidance was issued. The website was
initially made available for use in a transmittal memo entitled "Distribution of
Superfund Preliminary Remediation Goals for Radionuclides in Outdoor Surfaces
(SPRG) Electronic Calculator", January 16, 2009.


PRELIMINARY REMEDIATION GOALS

This recommended calculator is based on Risk Assessment Guidance for Superfund:
Volume I, Human Health Evaluation Manual (Part B, Development of Risk-based
Preliminary Remediation Goals) (RAGS Part B). RAGS Part B provides guidance on
using EPA toxicity values and exposure information to calculate risk-based
SPRGs. Initially used at the scoping phase of a project using readily available
information, risk-based SPRGs generally are modified based on site-specific data
gathered during the RI/FS study. SPRG development and screening should assist
staff in streamlining the consideration of remedial alternatives. The
recommended radionuclide-specific SPRGs in this calculator are from two general
sources: (1) concentrations based on potential Applicable or Relevant and
Appropriate Requirements (ARARs) and (2) concentrations based on risk
assessment. ARARs include concentration limits set by other environmental
regulations, such as Safe Drinking Water Act maximum contaminant levels (MCLs).
The second source for SPRGs, and the focus of this recommended database tool, is
risk-based calculations that set concentration limits using toxicity values
under specific exposure conditions.

The recommended approach for developing remediation goals is to identify SPRGs
at scoping, modify them as needed at the end of the investigation or during the
remediation phase based on site-specific information from the baseline risk
assessment, and ultimately select remediation levels. In order to set
radionuclide-specific SPRGs in a site-specific context, however, assessors
should answer fundamental questions about the site. Information on the
radionuclides that are present onsite, the specific contaminated media, land use
assumptions, and the exposure assumptions behind pathways of individual exposure
normally is necessary in order to develop radionuclide-specific SPRGs. This
calculation tool provides a recommended approach for modifying the recommended
standard default SPRG exposure parameters to calculate site-specific SPRGs.

Once this database tool is used to retrieve standard SPRGs or calculate
site-specific SPRGs, it is important to clearly document the equations and
exposure parameters used in the calculations. Discussion of the assumptions that
go into the SPRGs calculated should be included in the document where the SPRGs
are presented, such as a Remedial Investigation (RI) Report or Feasibility
Study.

This recommended database tool presents standardized risk-based SPRGs and
variable risk-based SPRG calculation equations for radioactively contaminated
outdoor hard surfaces, such as building slabs, outside building walls, sidewalks
and roads. Recommended SPRGs are presented for resident and worker exposure. The
recommended risk-based SPRGs for radionuclides are based on the carcinogenicity
of the analytes. The suggested standardized SPRGs are based on default exposure
parameters and incorporate exposure factors that present RME conditions. This
recommended database tool presents SPRGs in both activity per area and mass per
area units.

This website combines current cancer slope factors (SFs) with "standard"
exposure factors to estimate contaminant concentrations in environmental media
(soil and water) that are protective of humans (including sensitive groups) over
a lifetime. SFs used are provided by the Center for Radiation Protection
Knowledge. The main report is Calculations of Slope Factors and Dose
Coefficients and the tables of slope factors are in a separate appendix.

Sufficient knowledge about a given site may warrant the use of site-specific
assumptions that may differ from the defaults. Exceeding a PRG usually suggests
that further evaluation of the potential risks is appropriate. The PRG
concentrations presented on this website can be used to screen pollutants in
environmental media, trigger further investigation, and provide initial cleanup
goals, if applicable.


RELATED CERCLA CALCULATORS AND GUIDANCE

It should also be noted that calculating a SPRG addresses neither human
radionuclide dose or noncancer toxicity nor potential ecological risk. Of the
radionuclides generally found at CERCLA sites, only uranium has potentially
significant noncancer toxicity. When assessing sites with uranium as a
contaminant, it may also be necessary to consider the noncancer toxicity of
uranium using other tools, such as EPA's Regional Screening Levels (RSLs) for
Chemical Contaminants at Superfund Sites electronic calculator for uranium in
soil, water, or air and the WTC for uranium inside buildings. EPA's PRG
Calculator should be used to assess radionuclide cancer risk in soil, water, and
air and the BPRG Calculator for radionuclide cancer risk inside buildings. EPA's
DCC Calculator should be used to assess radionuclide dose for soil, water, and
air, BDCC Calculator for radionuclide dose inside buildings, and the SDCC
Calculator for radionuclide dose for hard outside surfaces. For sites where
vapor intrusion may be of concern, the EPA's Vapor Intrusion Screening Levels
(VISL) Calculator for chemicals should be consulted and for sites with radon,
the Radon Vapor Intrusion Screening Level (RVISL) Calculator for Radionuclide
Contaminants at Superfund Sites should be consulted. Similarly, some sites with
radiological contaminants in sensitive ecological settings may also need to be
evaluated for potential ecological risk. EPA's guidance "Ecological Risk
Assessment Guidance for Superfund: Process for Designing and Conducting
Ecological Risk Assessment" contains an eight step process for using benchmarks
for ecological effects in the remedy selection process.

Below is a table that summarizes the existing EPA online calculators for
assessing risks from chemicals and radionuclides at Superfund sites.

Media Addressed Chemical Risk Radiological Risk Radiological Dose Human Health
Protection Soil, Water, Air, Biota, Soil to Groundwater RSL PRG DCC Inside
Buildings (Dust, Air, Fixed Contamination) WTC BPRG BDCC Outside Buildings
(Dust, Air, Fixed Contamination) SPRG SDCC Vapor Intrusion (Air, Soil Gas,
Groundwater) VISL RVISL RVISL Ecological Health Protection Soil, Sediment,
Surface Water, Biota ECO-RAGS

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Last updated on July 24, 2020