Improving the efficiency of fixed radionuclides’ removal by chemical decontamination of surfaces in situ

The article presents the results of work aimed at improving of chemical decontamination methods. A brief description of existing chemical decontamination technologies used to remove radioactive contamination (RC) from walls, floors and external surfaces of equipment without dismantling, i.e., in situ, is given. A vector of research aimed at improving the efficiency of fixed RC’s removal is also determined. The first aim of this work is to improve the decontaminating properties of removable polymer coatings used in practice. The following domestic products were chosen as study objects: compositions presented under trademarks VA, VL; and also special formulation ZPS-1M. Modifications of these compounds performed in SPSIT in some cases made it possible to significantly increase the decontamination factors (DF). The best results were obtained for VL compositions: it was found that due to certain additives it is possible to increase the DF for metal surfaces by a factor of 5–35 over the base product. Along with film-forming decontaminating compositions, an alternative patented technique has been developed in SPSIT. The main feature of this technique is usage of sorbent-based composite covering material previously saturated by decontaminating solution. New technique allows to achieve far higher decontamination factors (150–500) when fixed RC is removed from metal surfaces. In addition, it can be applied to polymer and other non-metal materials. One of the main advantages of given technique is a drastic (11–16 times) reduction of time required for carrying out decontamination operations. The obtained results may be useful for further research in this area. Thus, research performed allows to come up with general conclusion: there are possibilities to efficiently remove fixed RC from surfaces using rather simple chemical means. That, in its turn, could be a rational alternative to high-priced robotic decontaminating systems.

Abstract licence: CC BY

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