COST AND EFFECTIVENESS OF DECONTAMINATION PROCEDURES FOR LAND TARGETS

Technical Report · Fri Dec 27 04:00:00 EST 1957

OSTI ID:4823209

Sartor, J D; Curtis, H B; Lee, H; Owen, W L

The cost and effectiveness of basic radiological decontamination procedures for land target components were investigated at a field test conducted at Camp Stoneman in September 1956. Synthetic fallout wad developed to provide contaminants simulating two types of radioactive debris, and two contaminating events were considered: (1) a dry fallout from a low-yield (kiloton) land burst, or a high-yield (megaton) land or shallow-water burst, and (2) a wet slurry fallout from a low-yield shallow-water burst. Areas contaminated at dose rates of 1000 and 10,000 r/hr at 1 hour after burst were hypothesized to be situations of greatest interest and their dose rates were simulated according to the massradiation relationship of 25 mg/ft/sup 2/r/hr at 1 hour. The five procedures evaluated were combinations of the following basic methods: firehosing, hand scrubbing with and without detergent, motorized flushing, and motorized scrubbing with and without detergent. Decontamination was tested on portland cement concrete and asphaltic concrete pavements; and composition shingle, tar and gravel, roll roofing, wood shingle, and corrugated galvanized steel roofs. The tests are described in detail and the cost and effectiveness of the various procedures are presented. Extrapolation of the data and application to actual situations are discussed. For similar initial mass levels, slurry contaminant will, in all probability, be more difficult to remove than the dry contaminant. On paved areas, the motorized flushing procedure ranked lowest in effort expended. The firehosing procedure ranked lowest in effort expended on roofing areas. The use of synthetic fallout in field operations of the nature and and scope of the Camp Stoneman operation is satisfactory. The decontamination procedures evaluated, with few exceptions, were 95 to 99% effective in the removal of the synthetic fallout material from paved areas and building roofs. (auth)

• Research Organization: Naval Radiological Defense Lab., San Francisco
• NSA Number: NSA-16-000430
• OSTI ID: 4823209
• Report Number(s): USNRDL-TR-196; AD-153932
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: English

Related Subjects

BUILDING MATERIALS
CONCRETES
DECONTAMINATION
DETERGENTS
ECONOMICS
EFFICIENCY
FALLOUT
HEALTH AND SAFETY
LEVELS
NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS
RADIATION DOSES
SLURRIES
TESTING