Decon - More information

[MARK WINSLOW <WINSLOW.MARK@epamail.epa.gov>]

Everyone who has given me information so far
thank you.  Also here is some additional
information people requested.

The site went into bankruptcy 15 years ago and
has essentially been abandoned since then. 
Operations occurred in the 1950s and included
molding U bullets for feeding into the Hanford
reactor.  In the 50s the site operated for 5
years with little controls. (no hoods were
installed for a year)  Operations created a dust
cloud of U which settled down on to everything. 
Currently the roof has holes in it and water
streams in when it rains.  The highly
contaminated zone (10,000 pCi/g) measures
about 200 x 250 ft. and full of metal milling and
molding machinery.  Other operations occurred
at the site for 30 years which has spread the U
all over the place.

Ok, now my tasks.  First of this is just a little
pilot decon of one or two pieces of machinery. 
For a full scale operation we would use one of
the larger decon technologies.  My current plan
is to fill several baby pools with water and do the
decon without a tent or such.  (The whole area
is contaminated anyway.)  I'm going to be
wearing level B (ie SCBA) and doing air
monitoring to see what level of protection may
be required for a full scale operation.

If I'm being a bonehead please tell me.  Also
and contracting companies which could
perform the next stage of the operation are
welcome to mail me any info they may have.  

Mark P. Winslow
U.S. EPA - Region II
Radiation and Indoor Air Branch
290 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
(212) 637-4002
Fax. (212) 637-4942