Remediation of Occupied Commercial Property Subject to Widespread Radium-226 Contamination - Confidential Client in the South-West of England - 12570
- AMEC, UK (United Kingdom)
AMEC was contacted by a company that managed commercial office space in 2010. High Rn- 222 measurements had been observed throughout the facility and the landlord had been advised to commission a radiological survey of the site. The site had been purchased by the client in the 1990's. Initial desk studies found that the building had operated for around 50 years as a compass factory. Non-intrusive investigation identified widespread Ra-226 contamination. Ra-226 was found in the fabric of the building, in attic spaces, buried under floor boards and underlying car parks. Intrusive investigation was undertaken to estimate volume(s) of waste, waste categories, activity concentrations and the total inventory of radioactive materials on site. This work identified the presence of 180 GBq of Ra-226 on site. A programme of work is currently underway to remediate the site tackling areas posing the greatest risk to site occupants as a priority. We have worked closely with Regulators, our client, and tenants, to decontaminate the fabric of the building whilst areas of the building remain occupied. The radiological risk, from irradiation, ingestion and inhalation (of Ra-226 and Rn- 222) has been assessed before, during and after intervention to minimise the risks to site occupants. Tenants were moved from areas of unacceptable radiological risk to areas unaffected by the presence of radioactive materials. Rn-222 mitigation measures were installed during the remedial operations to minimise the hazard from Rn-222 that was liberated as a result of decontamination activities. Decontamination techniques were required to be sympathetic to the building as the ageing structure was in danger of collapse during several phases of work. The first phase of remediation is now complete and the decontaminated building is being returned for use as office space. The radiological risks have been significantly reduced and, in areas where decontamination was not possible (e.g. due to concerns over the structural integrity of the building), mitigation measures have been installed. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- WM Symposia, 1628 E. Southern Avenue, Suite 9-332, Tempe, AZ 85282 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 22293755
- Report Number(s):
- INIS-US-14-WM-12570; TRN: US14V1411115279
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: WM2012: Waste Management 2012 conference on improving the future in waste management, Phoenix, AZ (United States), 26 Feb - 1 Mar 2012; Other Information: Country of input: France
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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