0.50

0.33--1.2

Livermore Water Reclamation Plant soils

0.64

0.46--0.78

Site 300 soils

1.5

0.68--42

The concentration of naturally occurring beryllium is variable. The average concentration in soil is about 6 parts per million (ppm), with a range of 0.1--42 ppm; humus soils show a concentration above the crustal average. The presence of beryllium in other geological materials shows similar variability: sandstones and limestones have a low concentration (<1 ppm), igneous rocks and shales a higher concentration (about 3 ppm). Beryllium ores may have a substantially higher concentration. For more details, see Wilbur (1980) and Rossman (1991), listed in Section 6.3.

Air samples taken at the LLNL main site and Site 300 perimeters indicate an average of approximately 0.09% of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District guideline of 10,000 pg/m3, as reported in the 1998 LLNL Environmental Report (UCRL-50027-98).

1.1 Goals

Controlling beryllium exposure has been a major interest of the DOE and its predecessor agencies. The first exposure standards were published by the Atomic Energy Commission in 1949 and were later adopted by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). DOE efforts to control and regulate exposure culminated in 10 CFR 850, Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program, published in December 1999. The essential requirement of the rule is to establish a Chronic Beryllium Disease Prevention Program (CBDPP), whose ultimate goal is to eliminate chronic beryllium disease (CBD) from all DOE facilities by:

* Controlling exposures.

* Minimizing the number of workers exposed.

* Minimizing the opportunities for exposure.