Savannah River Site Health Effects Subcommittee (SRSHES) Meeting

Meeting Summary

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List of Acronyms
	ATSDR  Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry  CDC  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  DOE  Department of Energy FACA  Federal Advisory Committee Act GEPD  Georgia Environmental Protection Division HESs Health Effects Subcommittees HHS Department of Health and Human Services LLNL Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory NCEH National Center for Environmental Health NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health OBT  Organically-Bound Tritium SCDHEC  South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control  SEMP  SRS Environmental Monitoring Program  SRSHES  Savannah River Site Health Effects Subcommittee

HHS and CDC convened an SRSHES meeting on September 5-6, 2002 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The June 6, 2002 meeting minutes were unanimously approved with the changes as noted in the record. Current action items were completed by making follow-up contacts, scheduling agenda items or disseminating information.

SEMP was established in 1953 to characterize and quantify contaminants, demonstrate compliance with applicable standards, calculate radiation exposures to the public, and assess any effects on the local environment from SRS releases. SEMP evaluates all contaminant pathways from several environmental media that may affect the public, including air, liquid effluents, fish, deer, hogs and gamma radiation. Samples are collected and analyzed on a weekly, biweekly or monthly basis for tritium, particulate matter, iodine, plutonium, cesium, other ions of interest and all other radionuclides.

SEMP’s 2001 data showed that tritium was a major contributor to all contaminant pathways and accounted for 42% of airborne radionuclide releases, 51% of airborne doses, 99% of liquid radionuclide releases and 38% of liquid doses. In comparison to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water standard of 4 mrem per year, the concentrations of radionuclides in the Savannah River would result in a drinking water dose of 0.06-0.07 mrem per year.

Maximally exposed individual dose levels at the SRS site boundary from 1990-2001 have been steady and low at a range of 0.28-0.18 mrem. SRS airborne and liquid releases to the environment continue to decline. The SEMP 2001 Annual Report will be completed and distributed on a CD-ROM within the next ten days. SRSHES noted that cumulative doses over a long period should be monitored and doses to humans should be tracked in addition to environmental media.

GEPD will conduct its 2002 environmental sampling program to assess whether radioactive materials released from SRS affected Georgia. Samples will be collected from air, tritium-in-air cartridges, thermoluminescent dosimeter monitoring locations, land- and water-based platforms, soil and vegetation. Analyses will be conducted on a weekly, biweekly, monthly or annual basis to detect iodine-131, gross alpha and gross beta activity, gamma-emitting radionuclides, strontium-89/90, plutonium-238/239 and tritium. GEPD will also collect fish, sediment and groundwater samples in 2002. The data results will be reviewed in 2003 for a health consultation and public information summary. SRSHES expressed an interest in reviewing historical environmental data collected by GEPD.

SCDHEC created the Environmental Surveillance and Oversight Program in 1995 to verify that SRS programs adequately detect environmental and public health impacts. Samples are collected from air, groundwater, radiological and non-radiological surface water and sediment, edible and non-edible vegetation, milk, fish, macroinvertebrates, deer and feral hogs. Analyses are conducted on a weekly, biweekly, monthly or annual basis to detect volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, pesticides, PCBs, gross alpha and beta activity, tritium, strontium-90 and gamma-emitting radionuclides. The SCDHEC environmental monitoring report is published each year and available to the public. SRSHES raised the possibility of SCDHEC comparing SRS environmental monitoring data to other sites.

FACA was enacted to enhance accountability of advisory committees to the public; protect against undue influence of special interest groups; and reduce wasteful expenditures of public funds. FACA outlines requirements for public announcements of meetings, charter renewals, detailed minutes, balanced membership and conflicts of interest. FACA defines roles and responsibilities for the designated federal official, chair and members of advisory committees. Congress submits annual reports of advisory committees to the General Services Administration. The documents are available to the public.

ATSDR responded to a request by the LLNL community to evaluate tritium exposures and OBT. ATSDR first needed to address uncertainties and fill data gaps before conducting this type of assessment. An expert panel was formed in this effort with input from the LLNL and SRS communities throughout the entire process. Energy of decay, effective biological half-life, whole body mass, radiation weighting factors, environmental concentrations and other components were incorporated into tritium dose calculation models. Data showed that past tritium concentrations were on the order of 100 times current tritium activities.

Annual tritium doses from SRS releases to the offsite community were evaluated in drinking water, food, water in food, OBT in food, food decay as water, food decay as OBT, and food plus water for a total dose. ATSDR concluded that total annual doses of tritium and OBT were below levels of public health concern. Protective assumptions were found to be adequate to account for uncertainties in monitoring and estimating dose. OBT will increase a tritium dose by a multiplier of 1.3 to 1.5, but estimated tritium doses were not found to warrant the collection of additional OBT data. OBT is produced in the environment, but actual releases from SRS were found to be negligible.

ATSDR has solicited feedback from health professionals on its iodine-131 case study. The document is currently being revised based on this input and is expected to be finalized and distributed to SRSHES during the next meeting. Data are currently being collected from the Hanford HES to develop site-specific health education materials. ATSDR will closely collaborate with the Outreach Workgroup to design the SRS materials as well as to update and disseminate the SRSHES brochure. Recommendations made by SRS residents during the environmental health education needs assessment will be used to revise and distribute the SRSHES brochure.

The Community Summary Workgroup has been dissolved with the completion of the final document. The Proactive Workgroup was eliminated and the three members were reassigned. The Outreach Workgroup will present updated versions of both the SRSHES brochure and web site at the next meeting. Several mechanisms were suggested to more widely publicize SRSHES and its activities, such as grand rounds in local hospitals; specific brochures targeted to medical providers and patients; poster displays at local health departments and community health centers; newspaper announcements; and youth involvement. SRSHES suggested that representatives from citizen’s groups be recruited to assist in outreach activities.

The Membership Workgroup will poll 12 members whose terms expire on June 30, 2003 to determine their interest in reapplying for another three-year term. The Epidemiologic Data Workgroup followed up on several outstanding issues. Assistance from Georgia and South Carolina technical advisors is still needed. Dose reconstruction documents should be reviewed to determine whether SRS workers are being compensated for certain cancers. Efforts should be made to identify tests that can routinely examine persons residing near SRS for radiation exposure. SRSHES suggested that the current epidemiologic data set be summarized by a non-SRS expert and disseminated to the public. The database should also include non-SRS epidemiologic data.

The Agenda Workgroup will gather electronic versions of previous meeting minutes to identify outstanding agenda items and determine whether any topics are still relevant. NCEH will first verify consistency between electronic versions and final certified paper copies before releasing the documents. The Scenario Workgroup described current profiles for the rural family, urban/suburban family, delivery person and outdoors person scenarios. Data have been collected on locations of residences, schools, milk, other food sources, jobs, churches and other activities for each scenario.

SRSHES agreed by consensus to forward the four scenarios to NCEH for further evaluation in the screening process. The workgroup is still gathering information for the family living near the river and migrant worker family scenarios. Agreement was reached for the workgroup to produce a draft of the remaining two scenarios and distribute the documents to SRSHES for review and comment within the next 30-45 days. SRSHES raised the possibility of advancing from the screening activity to the actual dose reconstruction project due to budget and time constraints.

NCEH will refine the existing scenarios by developing a range of historical doses persons received from the site. SRSHES reviewed new action and agenda items raised during the meeting and properly took a vote to place suggested topics on the next agenda. The Chair opened the floor for public comment at all times as designated on the agenda. The next SRSHES meeting is scheduled for March 13-14, 2003 in Columbia, South Carolina; Aiken, South Carolina; Charleston, South Carolina; or Atlanta, Georgia. The following SRSHES meeting is scheduled for September 4-5, 2003.