Decontamination Strategy and Technology Selection Tool for Decontamination of Facilities Contaminated with Biological or Chemical Agents: User Manual
Citation:
Lemieux, P., L. Oudejans, D. Edwards, AND L. Weinstock. Decontamination Strategy and Technology Selection Tool for Decontamination of Facilities Contaminated with Biological or Chemical Agents: User Manual. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, EPA/600/B-24/319, 2025.
Impact/Purpose:
Several options exist with publicly available data on the decontamination of fentanyl from different building surfaces. There are challenges associated with deciding which decontamination approach might be the most effective and least expensive for certain materials and building types. This subproduct is the User's Guide for a macro-enabled MS Excel based decision support tool developed under the Homeland Security Research Program. This tool is intended to help a technical working group (TWG) make decontamination recommendations for individual buildings for Bacillus anthracis, VX, HD, and now fentanyls, based on cost, efficacy, and material type. These tactical recommendations are intended to accompany the strategic recommendations that other HSRP tools generate.
Description:
The Decontamination Strategy and Technology Selection Tool (DeconST) provides a comprehensive, data-rich framework for considering decontamination options and facilitating the development of facility-specific, efficient, and effective remediation approaches following attack or contamination with Bacillus anthracis (B.a.) or a chemical agent such as the blister agent sulfur mustard (HD), the nerve agent VX, or fentanyl. The comparison includes for each decontamination technology the required operational conditions, source reduction, materials compatibility, waste management, and costs to the facility. The DeconST uses published experiment-based data on the decontamination technologies and has the flexibility to incorporate updates to those data as well as new decontamination strategies and technologies and new facility structural and nonstructural materials and contents. This subproduct is the updated User's Manual for the DeconST.