Enclosure (1) TO COMDTINST 16478.12
Chapter One
Background
The U.S. Coast Guard is responsible for the maintenance of over 12,000 fixed
lighted aids to navigation (AtoNs) in the major rivers and coastal waters of
the United States. From the 1960's to the mid-1980s, many of these AtoNs were
powered by disposable primary batteries, containing small amounts of mercury.
These batteries have a service life of one to three years depending on the
power requirement of the AtoN. During their twenty years of use, some service
crews disposed of spent batteries at the AtoN. In the mid-1980's, the Coast
Guard's environmental concern and the development of reliable solar technology
resulted in a primary battery replacement program, which has succeeded in
upgrading the AtoN's power source to solar powered rechargeable batteries at
almost all locations. In addition, the Coast Guard initiated a research
program, conducted by the Volpe Center, to determine the environmental effect
of spent batteries. The Volpe Center research program included:1) a
contaminant fate and transport assessment, by laboratory analyses of
batteries, conducted at the Ralph Parsons Laboratory - Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, and 2) environmental assessments at prototypical AtoN disposal
sites in the Chesapeake Bay, Tampa Bay, Tennessee River and Puget Sound.
Contaminant Fate and Transport
Analysis of Spent Batteries
A laboratory study was conducted to estimate health and environmental hazards
posed by discarded AtoN batteries, based on an understanding of the harmful
effects of the contaminant mercury. The principal objective was to determine
the ways that humans can encounter mercury released from primary AtoN
batteries (which are referred to as primary batteries by the major battery
industries, the Coast Guard, and the, railroad industry), the volume of
mercury released, and its potential effects.
The volume of mercury likely to be released from individual batteries was
estimated by analyzing spent batteries in varying states of "decay". These
states included batteries recently removed from an AtoN, those found intact in
an aquatic environment, and those found in an aquatic environment with broken
casings and missing internal contents. The total mercury released from all
batteries was estimated based on the results of the laboratory analyses.
The Volpe Center contracted Drs. Francios Morel and Robert Mason of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology for this effort, which is being
continued by Dr. Mason at the University of Maryland, Chesapeake Bay
Biological Laboratory. They
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