Environmental Fate and Transport Process Descriptors for Explosives
Abstract
Waste disposal practices associated with military production of weapons, especially before and during World War II, have resulted in significant contamination of soils and ground water with high explosives such as 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX), and octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine (HMX). Development of remediation and risk management strategies for these contaminated sites as well as development of approaches for sustainable use of active training and weapons testing sites require an understanding of how the energetic compounds interact with the environment Factors affecting fate and transport such as adsorption, microbial degradation, dissolution kinetics, solubility, and photolysis are determinants of ultimate environmental fate and exposure potential. This report summarizes the current understanding of these interactions, identifies significant data deficiencies, and provides updated process descriptors for primary explosives, transformation products, and impurities.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 2002
- Accession Number
- ADA403162
Entities
People
- James M. Brannon
- Judith C. Pennington
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center