Treatment of energetic hazardous waste by open detonation at the Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, California

The Naval Air Weapons Station, China Lake, California, is the Navy's largest research, development, test, and evaluation (RDT&E) facility, encompassing more than 1.1 million acres. The State of California has a long tradition of strong enforcement of strict environmental standards. The treatment of energetic wastes by open burn/open detonation (OB/OD) has been a matter of considerable controversy in some of parts of the state, as well as areas around the country. With a science‐based, data‐driven approach, a team of China Lake environmental specialists and technical experts in the research and energetics area establishes the validity of OD as a preferred treatment method. The anticipated outcome of China Lake's efforts is the approval by state regulatory agencies of a revised human health risk assessment (HRA). The purpose of the HRA is to address potential health effects (both cancer and non‐cancer) from exposure to emissions from OB/OD activities on human receptors. In order to ensure that the revised HRA is based on valid scientifically backed data that can withstand public and regulatory scrutiny, China Lake has focused efforts on three areas: (1) development of a validated emission factor database from actual test data; (2) fate of metal casings associated with the OD of munitions; and (3) OD simulation tests for energetic‐contaminated wastes. This article discusses all three efforts. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.