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Several of the technologies tested in the laboratory under the ARCS Program 

 are ready for scale up, with the chemical transformation technologies holding promise 

 for the destruction of dioxin in contaminated solids, such as soils and sediments. 

 However, it must be noted that the levels of dioxin that cause concern are several 

 orders of magnitude below those of PCBs and other contaminants, and such low 

 levels make the analysis of treatment technology efficiencies, and the overall 

 effectiveness of these technologies, difficult to accomplish. 



Since the applications of these technologies to full-scale sediment remediation 

 projects has been limited to only one site in the United States, the costs for future 

 applications can only be estimated for complete sediment remediation scenarios. At 

 this point, it is only possible to say that the unit costs of the technologies will range 

 from $50 to over $400 per cubic yard of sediment treated, with the treatment of 

 dioxin-contaminated sediments likely falling into the higher end of the range. It should 

 also be pointed out that application of bioremediation technologies to dioxin- 

 contaminated sediments will require much more highly engineered systems than have 

 been demonstrated on other contaminants, and estimating the costs of such 

 conceptual systems is speculative at best. Finally, the application of decontamination 

 technologies, even when technically feasible, is most appropriate where the 

 economics of the situation justify the subsequent reduction in the risk posed by the 

 sediment contaminants. We are not yet at a point where an inexpensive panacea 

 technology has been developed for application to all contaminated sediments. 



