Efficacy of Radiological Decontamination

Abstract

Trials of various decontamination methods and materials were carried out by DREO personnel at a French army facility. This was done to validate these materials and techniques for use with radioactive materials. Exterior and interior radiation detectors were used to monitor the progress of the decontamination. It was shown that the Irvin Aerospace CASCAD (CUE 2000) foam was only 59% effective in removing the radioactive contamination in the first attempt, and that even after two more attempts at decontamination (first using the same material with a different method, and finally with French material and methods), the overall decontamination efficacy was only 72%. These results are consistent with previous experiments, although they are poorer than most of these earlier results. It is important to note that without further attempts at decontamination, this vehicle was still 10000 times too contaminated to be released for unrestricted use by regulatory authorities. This has important ramifications for military operations in contaminated environments.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Aug 01, 2001
Accession Number
ADA397808

Entities

People

  • B. E. Hoffarth
  • Dean S. Haslip
  • Tom Cousins

Organizations

  • Defence Research and Development Canada

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Counter WMD
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Classification
  • Contamination
  • Detectors
  • Dose Rate
  • Hazardous Materials
  • Hazards
  • Materials
  • Measurement
  • Military Operations
  • Nuclear Fallout
  • Radiation
  • Radiation Effects
  • Radiation Hazards
  • Radioactive Contamination
  • Radioactive Materials
  • Security
  • Warning Systems

Fields of Study

  • Medicine

Readers

  • Computational Modeling and Simulation
  • Environmental Engineering.
  • Nuclear and Radiation Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Space