A comparative study for radiological decontamination of laboratory fume hood materials.

Elizabeth Thomas, Lucas Sweet, Paul MacFarlan, Bruce McNamara, Harrison Kerschner

Radiochemical Processing Laboratory, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, PO Box 999, Richland, WA 99352, USA.

Health physics 2012 Aug

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The efficacy for radiological decontamination of the laboratory standard fume hood as constructed of stainless steel, compared to that of powder-coated carbon steel is described. While the chemical inertness of powder-coated surfaces is good, faced with everyday abrasion, aggressive inorganic solutions and vapors, and penetrating organics commonly employed in government laboratory fume hoods, radiological decontamination of powder-coated steel surfaces was found to be similar to those made of stainless steel for easily solubilized or digestible radionuclides. Plutonium was difficult to remove from stainless steel and powder-coated surfaces, especially after prolonged contact times.

Citation

Elizabeth Thomas, Lucas Sweet, Paul MacFarlan, Bruce McNamara, Harrison Kerschner. A comparative study for radiological decontamination of laboratory fume hood materials. Health physics. 2012 Aug;103(2 Suppl 2):S136-43