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STAR Fellow Research Delivers Explosive Results
Jason M. Conder works at ENVIRON International Corporation in Irvine, CA. He completed his Ph.D. in 2004 at the University of North Texas with help from an EPA Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Graduate Research Fellowship.
Boom! TNT (2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, C6H2(NO2)3CH3 ) is a chemical everyone associates with explosives. Because of its relative stability and low risk of accidental detonation, it has been used in military munitions and quarrying and mining activities for many years. TNT can also be used in wet environments, as it neither absorbs nor dissolves in water. Because of its military use, TNT and its by-products have been widely detected in the soils and sediments of military installations. This makes TNT an environmental contaminant of concern, especially considering its classification as a possible human carcinogen.
With the recent raft of military base closings, many bases are being transferred to the public domain. Before transfer, the property must be deemed clean but no one really knows how clean is clean. There are few standards with which to compare the information from chemistry measurements at bases, making risk assessments very difficult. Without good information, stakeholders could assume TNT and its derivatives are more persistent in the environment and more toxic than they actually are. Lack of accurate information could result in overly-conservative environmental cleanups costing the US military and, ultimately the US taxpayer, millions of dollars.
Jason Conders STAR-funded research on the toxicity of TNT in aquatic environments helped provide the missing information needed to understand the environmental risks associated with this chemical compound. Collaborating with scientists at the Engineer Research and Development Center at the US Army Corps of Engineers, Jason helped unravel the chemical fate and transport of TNT and its degradation products in sediment and the bioaccumulation and toxicity of TNT in aquatic organisms. Jason found that TNT degrades rapidly in aquatic sediments and that the degradation products are less toxic than TNT. In addition, the breakdown products have a lower tendency to accumulate in bottom-living (benthic) oligochaete worms, Tubifex tubifex. Similar results were found in the larval stages of the insect, Chironomus tentans, and the water flea, Ceriodaphnia dubia. As a result of this research, clean-up operations on military bases could be less extensive and less costly than they are at present.
For more information about Jasons research contact him at: jconder@environcorp.com
Read more about Jasons research at:
http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/6874/report/0