<-- PREVIOUS | Back to Acronyms Index | NEXT -->

Return to GLOSSARY

F

FAA – Federal Aviation Administration; part of DOT charged with regulating air commerce.
FAB – Fast atomic bombardment
FACSS – Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies
FAO – (U.N.) Food and Agriculture Organization
FDA – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration; under the provisions of the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, The FDA establishes requirements for the labeling of foods and drugs to protect consumers from misbranded, unwholesome, ineffective, and hazardous products. FDA also regulates materials for food contact service and the conditions under which such materials are approved.
FDO – Final dissolved oxygen
FEMA – Federal Emergency Management Agency; body responsible for administering certain training funds under SARA Title III.
FERC – Federal Energy Regulatory Agency
FET – Federation of Environmental Technologists
FFDCA – Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act
FHSA – Federal Hazardous Substances Act; law regulating the packaging and sale of household products that may contain hazardous materials.
FHWA – Federal Highway Administration; part of DOT charged with administering the department's highway transportation program.
FIA – Flow injection analysis
FID – Flame ionization detector
FIFRA – Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; regulations administered by the U.S. EPA under this Act require that certain useful poisons, such as chemical pesticides, sold to the public contain labels that carry health hazard warnings to protect users.
FIP – Final Implementation Plan
FIT – Field investigation team
FLAA – Flame Atomic Absorption, a laboratory technique used for trace element analysis.
F/M – Food to Microorganism Ratio
FPD – Flame photometric detection (or detector)
FR – Federal Register
FRA – Federal Railroad Administration; part of DOT charged with administration and enforcement of railroad safety regulations.
FRSA – Federal Rail Safety Act (1970, 1988); authorizes FRA to oversee rail safety.
FS – Feasibility Study, the phase of a CERCLA cleanup in which remedial action alternatives are developed, evaluated, and selected.
FTIR – Fourier transform infrared (spectroscopy)
FWPCA – Federal Water Pollution Control Act (also known as the "Clean Water Act")

G

GAC – Granular activated carbon
GALP – Good Automated Laboratory Practices
GAO – General Accounting Office; assists Congress in carrying out legislative and oversight responsibilities.
GC – Gas chromatography (or chromatograph)
GC/MS – Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry, a laboratory technique used for trace elements analysis.
GESAMP – Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Pollution; U.N. Group responsible for identifying marine pollutants.
GFAA – Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption, the most sensitive laboratory technique used for trace element analysis.
GLP – Good Laboratory Practices
GPC – Gel permeation chromatography
GRCDA – Government Refuse Collection and Disposal Association
GW – Ground Water
GWPS – Ground Water Protection Standard

H

HAP – Hazardous Air Pollutant; any 189 air toxics identified for regulation under the CAA Amendments.
HASP – Health and safety plan
HAZCOM – Hazardous Communication Plans
HAZMAT – Hazardous materials
HAZWOPER – Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response regulations
HAZWRAP – Hazardous Waste Remedial Program
HCFC – Hydrochlorofluorocarbon; family of substances temporarily allowed as CFC substitutes in refrigerants and industrial applications.
HCS – Hazard Communication Standard; the OSHA standard cited in 29 CFR 1910.1200 requiring communication of risks from hazardous substances to workers in regulated facilities.
HH&E – Human Health and Environment
HHW – Household Hazardous Waste
HMAC – Hazardous Materials Advisory Council; national organization representing the hazardous materials industry; members are devoted to domestic and international safety in transportation and handling of hazardous materials and wastes.
HMBP – Hazardous Material Business Plans
HMM – Hazardous materials management
HMR – Hazardous Materials Regulations; govern the transportation of hazardous materials by air, highway, rail, water and intermodal means; administered by various agencies of DOT.
HMTA – Hazardous Materials Transportation Act; federal law administered by DOT regulating the transport of hazardous materials.
HMTC – Hazardous Materials Technical Center (DOT)
HMTUSA – Hazardous Materials Transportation Uniform Safety Act (amendments to HMTA)
HOC – Halogenated Organic Compounds
HON – Hazardous organic NESHAP; MACT standard for the organic chemical manufacturing industry.
HPLC – High-performance liquid chromatography (or chromatograph)
HPTLC – High-performance thin-layer chromatography
HR – House Report (Federal bill originated in the House)
HRGC – High-resolution gas chromatography (or chromatograph)
HRMS – High-resolution mass spectrometry (or spectrometer)
HRS – Hazard Ranking System; system used to rank NPL sites in terms of degree of contamination and urgency for remediation.
HS – Hazardous Substance
HSA – Hazardous Substance Account of the California Superfund
HSCAP – Hazardous Substance Cleanup Arbitration Panel
HSITA – Hazardous Substances Information and Training Act (California)
HSWA – Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984
HW – Hazardous Waste
HWCL – Hazardous Waste Control Law (California RCRA counterpart)
HW-FW – Half Wave/Full Wave (electrical distribution)
HWMU – Hazardous Waste Miscellaneous Units
HWRA – Hazardous Waste Reduction Act
HWTC – Hazardous Waste Treatment Council; Washington, D.C. based trade association of more than 60 treatment and disposal firms.

I

IAETL – International Association of Environmental Testing Laboratories
IAEH – International Association for Environmental Hydrology
IARC – International Agency for Research on Cancer.
IAQ – Indoor Air Quality
IATA – International Air Transport Association; Montreal-based trade group representing international airlines.
IBC – Intermediate Bulk Container; container used to package hazardous materials for marine transport.
IC – Ion chromatography (or chromatograph)
ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization; branch of U.N. responsible for international air commerce.
ICAP – Inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy
ICP – Inductively coupled plasma (spectroscopy)
ICP-AES – Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emissions Spectrophotometry, a laboratory technique used for trace element analysis.
IDL – Instrument detection limit
IDLH – Immediately dangerous to life or health.
IDO – Initial dissolved oxygen
IEA – Industrial Environmental Association
IES – Ion-selective electrode
IHMM – Institute of Hazardous Materials Management
IMDG CODE – International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code; IMO standards for marine transportation of hazardous materials.
IMO – International Maritime Organization; branch of U.N. responsible for maritime affairs.
INCOR – University of California's Institutional Collaborative Research Program. INCOR promotes long term research efforts bringing together personnel and facilities of UC campuses and the UC-managed Dept. of Energy laboratories.
INUR – Inventory Update Rule
IOC – Inorganic compound
IQAP – Intelligent quality assurance planner
IR – Infrared
IRM – Interim remedial measures
IRS – Infrared spectroscopy
IS – Interim Status (For a TSDF)
ISA – Ionic strength adjuster
ISE – Ion-selective electrode
ISO – International Standards Organization
ITC – Interagency Testing Committee
IUPAC – International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry

J

K

L

LAER – Lowest Achievable Emission Rate (Clean Air Act)
LAP – Laboratory Analytical Protocol, which defines the set of laboratory procedures to be used for analyzing a set of samples collected from a Superfund site.
LC – Lethal Concentration; the concentration of a substance being tested that will kill a test animal.
LC50 – Lethal Concentration; the concentration of a material in air which on the basis of laboratory test has been shown to kill 50 percent of a group of test animals when administered as a single exposure (usually 1 or 4 hours). The LC50 is expressed as parts of material per million parts of air, by volume (ppm) for gases and vapors, or as micrograms of material per liter of air (mg/L) or milligrams or material per cubic meter of air (mg/M3) for dusta and mists, as well as for gases and vapors.
LD – Lethal Dose; a concentration of a substance being tested to kill a test animal.
LD50 – Median lethal concentration maintained for a given period of time that will kill on-half (50%) of a group of test animals, using a specified test produce. (Expressed in mg/L, ppm or mg/m3.)
LD50 – Median lethal dose needed to kill on-half (50%) of the group of test animals, using a specified test procedure. (Expressed in mg/kg.)
LEA – Local education agency; local school administrations held responsible for meeting AHERA requirements.
LEL, or LFL – Lower Exposure Limit or Lower Flammable Limit of vapor or gas; the lowest concentration (lowest percentage of the substance in air) that will produce a flash of fire when an ignition source (heat, arc, or flame) is present. At concentrations lower than the LEL, the mixture is too "lean" to burn. Also see "UEL."
LEPC – Local Emergency Planning Committee; groups defined in SARA as responsible for developing emergency plans.
LFG – Landfill gas
LIMS – Laboratory information management system
LLE – Liquid/liquid extraction
LLW – Low-level (radioactive) waste
LOD – Limit of detection
LOF – Lack of fit
LOIS – Loss of Interim Status (for TSDF)
LOQ – Limit of quantitation
LRMS – Low-resolution mass spectrometry (or spectrometer)
LSE – Liquid/solid extraction
LSM – Loop sampling mode
LUFT – Leaking Underground Fuel Tank
LULU – Locally unwanted land use
LUST – Leaking UST.

M

MACT – Maximum Achievable Control Technology
MCE – Mixed cellulose ester
MCF – Methyl chloroform.
MCL – Maximum Concentration Limits or Maximum Containment Levels (SDWA)
MCLGs – Maximum Containment Level Goals (SDWA)
MCS – Media cleanup standard
MDL – Method Detection Limit, the minimum concentration of a substance that can be measured and reported with 99 percent confidence that the concentration of the substance is greater than zero.
MEPC – Marine Environmental Protection Committee; IMO committee responsible for coordinating the organization's activities in pollution prevention and control of the marine environment.
MLVSS – Mixed Liquor Volatile Suspended Solids
MOU – Memorandum of Understanding
MPRSA – Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act
MRF – Material recovery facility
MRL – Method reporting limit
MRM – Miltiresidue method
MS – Mass spectrometry (or spectrometer)
MSC – Maritime Safety Committee; IMO committee responsible for the technical work dealing with safety issues.
MSDS – Material Safety Data Sheet, as required by OSHA under Title 29 of the code of Federal Regulations 1910.1200.
MSHA – The Mine Safety and Health Administration of the U.S. Department of the Interior; federal agency with safety and health regulatory and enforcement authorities for the mining industry. Also see "OSHA."
MS/MS – Multistage mass spectrometry
MSW – Municipal solid waste
MTU – Mobile Treatment Unit
MWP – Mixed waste paper
M/Z – Mass-to-charge ratio

N

NAA – Non-Attainment Areas
NAAQS – National Ambient Air Quality Standards (Clean Air Act)
NAEP – National Association of Environmental Professionals
NAPAP – National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program
NBAR – Nonbinding Allocation of Responsibility
NBS – National Bureau of Standards
NBUAC, or n-BuAc – Normal butyl acetate. Also see "evaporation rate."
NCAC – Nitrogen-containing aromatic compound
NCP – National Contingency Plan (National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan); regulations promulgated by EPA to implement CERCLA and Sec. 311 of CWA.
NCRIC – National Chemical Response and Information Center
NECA – Northwest Environmental Claims Association
NEIC – National Enforcement Investigation Center (EPA)
NEPA – National Environmental Policy Act
NESHAP – National Emissions Standards of Hazardous Air Pollutant (Clean Air Act)
NETA – National Environmental Training Association
NGWA – National Ground Water Association
NFPA – National Fire Protection Association; an international voluntary membership organization to promote/improve fire protection and prevention and establish safeguards against loss of life and property by fire. Best known on the industrial scene for National Fire Codes - 16 volumes of codes, standards, recommended practices, and manuals developed (and periodically updated) by NFPA technical committees. Among these is NFPA 704M, the code for showing hazards of materials using the familiar diamond-shaped label or placard with appropriate numbers or symbols. The brief explanation below illustrates the NFPA principle of using color codes and scale of 0 to 4 (low to high) to classify material hazards.

<-- Previous | Back to Glossary | Back to Acronyms Index | NEXT -->

Home  •  Privacy Policy  •  Español