DESIGNING A DECONTAMINATION SOLUTION FOR REMOVING DIFFERENT RADIOISOTOPES FROM MATERIAL SURFACES

Abstract

As is known, radioactive materials are widely used in health, energy and industry. In these sectors, in environments where radioactive materials are present, radioactive material may contact material / equipment surfaces as a result of the process or accident. In all areas such as nuclear medicine departments, radioactive drug production facilities, radioactive source production facilities, nuclear reactors, especially in hospitals where open radioactive materials are used, contamination of material surfaces with radioactive materials may occur. Radioactive material contamination causes considerable damage to occupational safety, especially personnel safety. After the contamination is detected, it is necessary to remove the radioactive material from the surface of the contaminated material in order to ensure personnel safety, process safety and the continuity of the process work flow. In case of any contamination, the radioactive material is removed from the contaminated surface by some special solutions. The effectiveness of the decontamination (cleaning) process depends on the nature of the contaminated radioisotope and the properties of the cleaning solution used in cleaning. In summary, the high cleaning efficiency of the decontamination solution to be used in the environments where the radioactive contamination occurs is of great importance. In this study, the technical features required for the design of the decontamination solution to be used to eliminate surface contamination caused by different widely used radioisotopes with metal or nonmetal properties are mentioned.