Minimizing decomposition of vaporized hydrogen peroxide for biological decontamination of galvanized steel ducting.

The behavior of vaporous hydrogen peroxide (VHP) was examined in clean, room-scale galvanized steel (GS) and polyvinylchloride-coated steel air ducts, to understand how it might be used to decontaminate larger ventilation systems. VHP injected into the GS duct decreased in concentration along the length of the duct, whereas VHP concentrations in the polyvinylchloride coated duct remained essentially constant, suggesting that VHP decomposed at the GS surface. However, decomposition was reduced at lower temperatures (approximately 22 degrees C) and higher flow rates (approximately 80 actual cubic meter per hour).

The spatial extent of contaminants and the landscape scale: an analysis of the wildlife, conservation biology, and population modeling literature.

Many contaminant releases to the terrestrial environment are of small areal extent. Thus, rather than evaluating the ecological impact on species in the immediate vicinity of the release, it may be more ecologically meaningful to determine if population impacts occur at the landscape level. In order to do this, the cumulative impact of all releases in the landscape under consideration must be evaluated.

Chemical and biological agent incident response and decision process for civilian and public sector facilities.

In the event of a terrorist attack or catastrophic release involving potential chemical and/or biological warfare agents, decisionmakers will need to make timely and informed choices about whether, or how, to respond. The objective of this article is to provide a decision framework to specify initial and follow-up actions, including possible decontamination, and to address long-term health and environmental issues. This decision framework consists of four phases, beginning with the identification of an incident and ending with verification that cleanup and remediation criteria have been met.