Large scale, urban decontamination; developments, historical examples and lessons learned

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:21294640

Demmer, R L ^[1]

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1. Idaho National Laboratory, Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

Recent terrorist threats and actions have lead to a renewed interest in the technical field of large scale, urban environment decontamination. One of the driving forces for this interest is the prospect for the cleanup and removal of radioactive dispersal device (RDD or 'dirty bomb') residues. In response, the United States Government has spent many millions of dollars investigating RDD contamination and novel decontamination methodologies. The efficiency of RDD cleanup response will be improved with these new developments and a better understanding of the 'old reliable' methodologies. While an RDD is primarily an economic and psychological weapon, the need to cleanup and return valuable or culturally significant resources to the public is nonetheless valid. Several private companies, universities and National Laboratories are currently developing novel RDD cleanup technologies. Because of its longstanding association with radioactive facilities, the U. S. Department of Energy National Laboratories are at the forefront in developing and testing new RDD decontamination methods. However, such cleanup technologies are likely to be fairly task specific; while many different contamination mechanisms, substrate and environmental conditions will make actual application more complicated. Some major efforts have also been made to model potential contamination, to evaluate both old and new decontamination techniques and to assess their readiness for use. There are a number of significant lessons that can be gained from a look at previous large scale cleanup projects. Too often we are quick to apply a costly 'package and dispose' method when sound technological cleaning approaches are available. Understanding historical perspectives, advanced planning and constant technology improvement are essential to successful decontamination. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9 - 332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21294640
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--09-WM-07076
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CONTAMINATION
DECONTAMINATION
PLANNING
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOLOGICAL DISPERSAL DEVICES
US DOE