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Literature Search and Review for Sampling, Analysis, and Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Agent - Contaminated Maritime Vessels
Citation:
Oudejans, L. AND D. See. Literature Search and Review for Sampling, Analysis, and Decontamination of Chemical Warfare Agent - Contaminated Maritime Vessels . U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/R-20/436, 2020.
Impact/Purpose:
The release of a chemical or biological threat agent, over a large outdoor area presents a considerable persistent threat to public health and challenges our environmental response to remediate the impacted area. The lack of readily-available tools and field-tested methods to address wide-spread chemical and biological contamination leads to considerable challenges in ensuring the nation’s resilience to such threats. This report summarizes the current scientific literature on remediation-related activities associated with US Coast Guard vessels and other assets. It provides descriptions of research gaps and needs for consideration by US Coast Guard and other federal agencies to improve on sampling and decontamination of vessels following a chemical warfare agent release scenario.
Description:
The USCG protects and defends more than 100,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. To this end, the USCG may be responsible for countering and responding to incidents involving weapons of mass destruction, including biological warfare agents (BWAs) and chemical warfare agents (CWAs). To carry out their mission, the USCG maintains a fleet of small boats, larger cutters and aircraft, as well as a network of fixed infrastructure. Such assets are likely to be utilized in the event of a USCG response to an incident involving BWAs and/or CWAs and would likely become contaminated as a result. Following a contamination incident, decontamination is necessary so that assets may be returned to service and USCG capability can be maintained. Efficacious decontamination strategies are thus necessary. Further, effective sampling is necessary to determine the extent and magnitude of contamination, inform responders on selection of decontamination strategies, determine the success of decontamination strategies, and determine the presence/absence of residual contaminants to clear assets for return to service. USCG vessel usage scenarios, operating environments, and materials of construction present unique challenges to BWA and CWA decontamination and sampling that have not been previously addressed.This report summarizes the current scientific literature on remediation-related activities associated with US Coast Guard vessels and other assets. It provides descriptions of research gaps and needs for consideration by US Coast Guard and other federal agencies to improve on sampling and decontamination of vessels following a chemical warfare agent release scenario.