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Review of Decontamination Progress Surveying Technologies for Wide-Area Radiological Contamination
Citation:
Lee, S., M. Magnuson, M. Sutton, H. Saito, P. Zhao, AND E. Swanberg. Review of Decontamination Progress Surveying Technologies for Wide-Area Radiological Contamination. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-20/104, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
This report provides quantitative metrics for comparing available technology costs, availability and technical performance that shall be applicable for wide area incident response.
Description:
The continuing threat of terrorist attacks against the United States has provided great impetus for the development of methods and technologies that can be utilized to detect and interdict terrorist threats, and to effectively respond to and recover from terrorist attacks. One of the greatest concerns facing the United States and other nations is the use of radiological weapons by terrorist organizations. The explosive radiological dispersal device (RDD) has become the paradigm for malicious dispersal of radioactive material. Such an RDD would not immediately result in great loss of life, as casualties would be limited to those resulting from the explosion rather than from the associated radioactivity. Rather, fear, social and economic disruption, and long-term health effects are the primary concerns. The RDD is considered a denial of area weapon because it can spread radioactive contamination over a large area halting the regular flow of business and commerce and forcing relocation of businesses and residents while lengthy and very costly decontamination takes place. Radiological decontamination technologies currently available for use after an urban RDD attack are costly and time consuming to deploy and may be unacceptably destructive to urban surfaces. Therefore, research and development efforts are urgently needed to better prepare for response and recovery from an RDD event. An improvised nuclear device (IND) would result in a range of radioactivity levels, radionuclide types, and particulate properties. A radiological accident at a nuclear power plant would result in a mixture of water soluble and insoluble radionuclides. Portions of higher radiological contamination were observed in an area surrounding several buildings near the Fukushima nuclear power plant (NPP). If these measurements are reflective of sub-surface contamination, proper site survey before decontamination and proper assessment methods for decontamination progress could significantly reduce overall cost and time for decontamination, the waste volume generated in a wide area incident, and the time before unsupervised access can be permitted to the previously contaminated site. More research is recommended to fully identify the circumstances and the extent to which this advantage can be exploited. A variety of technologies and platforms exist (likely often used in combination) for surveying contaminated areas, and for monitoring the progress of decontamination/dose reduction to suit the survey area size, terrain, and desired resolution. New technologies are currently being developed in Japan and in the United States, both of which merit possible inclusion in domestic RDD or IND response. Individual technologies for surveying/monitoring contaminated areas are briefly summarized in the sections that follow, with additional details outlined in the attached appendix.