Impact Assessments
The data maintained under the EMC project are critical to assess potential and actual impacts to biota from Hanford Site operations. Population trends and status and the presence or absence of organisms as risk receptors with respect to legacy contaminants in the environment are key information. Information on the abundance and distribution of key species are used to evaluate potential impacts of the development and operation of new and existing projects on the site. Impacts to biota are assessed with respect to operations that degrade or destroy critical habitat or negatively affect population reproduction as well as potential impacts that may result from exposure to legacy contaminants in the environment.
Under the EMC project, the appropriate methods for sampling key indicator species and datasets needed to determine impact and potential risk are identified. Risk characterization for key indicator species involves determinations of individual organism health in species with high potential for exposure and uptake of contaminants in coordination with contaminant monitoring activities conducted through the Surface and Environmental Surveillance Project.
Organisms are sampled and analysed to document the occurrence or absence of physiological, biological and relative health effects at locations having known contaminant concentrations. The work will be integrated with contaminant monitoring accomplished under the Surface and Environmental Surveillance Project to determine health effects for organisms with known tissue concentrations of the contaminants of interest. This work element includes field data collection efforts, sample preparations and analysis and the development of a biological health database for selected biological endpoints such as histological evaluations, blood assays, survival and reproductive capacity.