Comparison of Decontamination Standards

Abstract

The quality of materials used in nuclear-related facilities is critical, especially the ease of decontamination of different paints and coatings. Standards describe different testing methods for classification. Nevertheless, compliance with these standards cannot be carried out negligibly from a safety point of view. In this study, a withdrawn Hungarian , an international ISO (ISO 8690:1988), and Russian (GOST 25146-82) decontamination standard were compared. Four different paints were tested as part of this survey. The ease of decontamination varied mainly from poor to fair levels in the case of the Hungarian standard, while the ISO standard exhibited very good level. In the case of the Russian standard, only a theoretical comparison was carried out. Based on the results, it was found that a special epoxy-based coating can be recommended for isotope laboratories due to being the best material from an ease of decontamination point of view. From comparison of the standards considered here, it was found that the application of ISO standard is significantly faster and simpler than the withdrawn Hungarian standard. However, in the case of the Hungarian standard the data described the ease of decontamination in more details. The use of water or some other cleaning agents can be effective to remove 137 Cs and 60 Co contamination right after early identification. Isotope 137 Cs and 60 Co contamination of a surface can be cleaned quickly and effectively using distilled water for the 137 Cs isotope removal from the surfaces being several times easier than that of 60 Co.

Influence of decontaminating agents and swipe materials on laboratory simulated working surfaces wet spilled with sodium pertechnetate

“…Radioactive contamination of work surfaces or personal occurs while handling open isotope in nuclear medicine laboratory either from normal operation or as a result of breakdown of protective measures. Decontamination protocol for radioactive contamination[ 1 2 6 ] is important for regulatory compliance and maintaining good radiation safety practices in radiopharmacy laboratory, nuclear medicine lab, and radioactive research laboratory. Gurau and Deju[ 4 ] performed to evaluate the efficacy of two chemical gel as decontaminating agent (DeconGel11O1, DeconGel 1102) used on dry contamination of 60 Co and 137 Cs radionuclide.…”

“…Type of swipe material, method used, chemical form of decontaminating agent, efficiency of measuring instruments, physical and chemical nature of the surface material, surface roughness, physical and chemical nature of the radionuclide contaminant, removal technique, human factors and specific concentration of activity are the various factors affecting removal of radioactive contamination. [ 2 5 6 ]…”