• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.29 no.9
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• pp.1051-1059
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• 2007

Bioterrorism intends to cause mass casualties and social panic by means of malicious pathogenic microorganisms. Environmental decontamination becomes very important as a follow-up measure if that happens. Conventional methods for decontamination is that aqueous disinfectants are being sprayed for killing or not spreading microorganisms with the purpose of preventing infection. However, these procedures are not enough to perfectly sterilize space or surface inside of building, requiring additional measures such as surface disinfection or gas treatment methods. This article deals with the issues about the present decontamination procedures, global trends, in order to formulate suggestion for advanced environmental decontamination.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.438-446
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• 2003

This paper presents the development of the remotely operated decontamination systems for use in a highly radioactive zone of the DUPIC Fuel Development facility of the Irradiated Material Examination Facility at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute. The remotely operated decontamination systems were designed to completely eliminate human interaction with hazardous radioactive contaminants. These decontamination systems are mainly classified into three systems depending on the task environment - a fabrication equipment decontamination system, a hot-cell floor decontamination system, and an isolation room floor decontamination system. A decontamination system for contaminated fabrication equipment utilizes dry ice pellet blasting method to decontaminate contaminated surface of the equipment. The decontamination systems for the hot-cell floor and isolation room floor employ a vacuum cleaning method to decontaminate the contaminated floor and collect loose dry spent nuclear fuel debris and other radioactive waste placed on the floor. The human operator from the out-of-cell performs a series of decontamination tasks remotely by manipulating decontamination systems located in-cell via a handcontroller with the aid of vision feedback information. The environmental, functional and mechanical design considerations, control system and capabilities of the remotely operated decontamination systems at a high radioactive environment are also described.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.295-305
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• 2023

Purpose: Various methods have been proposed to achieve the nearly complete decontamination of the surface of implants affected by peri-implantitis. We investigated the in vitro debridement efficiency of multiple decontamination methods (Gracey curettes [GC], glycine air-polishing [G-Air], erythritol air-polishing [E-Air] and titanium brushes [TiB]) using a novel spectrophotometric ink-model in 3 different bone defect settings (30°, 60°, and 90°). Methods: Forty-five dental implants were stained with indelible ink and mounted in resin models, which simulated standardised peri-implantitis defects with different bone defect angulations (30°, 60°, and 90°). After each run of instrumentation, the implants were removed from the resin model, and the ink was dissolved in ethanol (97%). A spectrophotometric analysis was performed to detect colour remnants in order to measure the cumulative uncleaned surface area of the implants. Scanning electron microscopy images were taken to assess micromorphological surface changes. Results: Generally, the 60° bone defects were the easiest to debride, and the 30° defects were the most difficult (ink absorption peak: 0.26±0.04 for 60° defects; 0.32±0.06 for 30° defects; 0.27±0.04 for 90° defects). The most effective debridement method was TiB, independently of the bone defect type (TiB vs. GC: P<0.0001; TiB vs. G-Air: P=0.0017; TiB vs. GE-Air: P=0.0007). GE-Air appeared to be the least efficient method for biofilm debridement. Conclusions: T-brushes seem to be a promising decontamination method compared to the other techniques, whereas G-Air was less aggressive on the implant surface. The use of a spectrophotometric model was shown to be a novel but promising assessment method for in vitro ink studies.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.632-638
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• 2006

There are numerous approaches available to cleanup a contaminated surface and subsurface ground currently in use, however, these methods all classify the decontamination after the contamination has penetrated into the soil masses and is costly. Unlike these approaches, in this study, utilization of soil's self-decontamination ability by rearranging and preplanning of the topographical features and surface and subsurface drainage systems for the potential contamination sites before or during contamination process has been considered as an another cleanup method. Step by step explanations on why and how to develop the self-decontamination procedure is proposed in detail. Two examples are presented including contaminated saltwater intrusion along a coastal region and control or prevention of radioactive toxic radon gas ($^{222}Rn$) in residential areas. The effectiveness of the proposed systems to these two examples using the soil's self-decontamination ability is well illustrated.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.279-288
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• 2013

Objectives: Effectiveness and conditions of vapor-phase hydrogen peroxide (VPHP) system on decontamination of Geobacillus stearothermophilus(GS) spores, Escherichia coli (E.coli) and Enterobacteria phage felix01 (felix01) were determined. Methods: The VPHP system was designed to vaporize 35% (w/w) solution of hydrogen peroxide, continuously to inject and withdraw VPHP. The system and VHP 1000ED (Steris) were operated such that dehumidification and conditioning were initiated without samples in the chamber. Then the samples were loaded into and removed. Coupons (glass, anodizing, silicon, viton) with GS spores ($1{\times}10^6$ colony forming unit/mL [CFU/mL]), E.coli ($1{\times}10^7$ CFU/mL) and felix01 ($1{\times}10^7$ plaque forming unit/mL[PFU/mL]), and Biological Indicator (BI) with GS spores ($1{\times}10^6$ CFU/mL) on stainless steel coupons were used. The tested samples were sonicated and vortexed, and then were plated for enumeration, followed by incubation at $55^{\circ}C$, 24 hr for GS spores, and at $37^{\circ}C$, 24 hr for E.coli and felix01. BI analysis in broth culture was only qualitative. Results: The efficacy of the VPHP system on decontamination was almost equivalent to that of VHP 1000ED. The conditions for complete decontamination with the VPHP system was as follows: concentration; 700~450 ppm, relative humidity; approximately 55%, and temperature; $34{\sim}32^{\circ}C$. When comparing the decontamination efficiency among different kinds of coupons, glass was the most effective, however, all kinds of coupons were decontaminated completely after 60 min exposure in both systems. Conclusion: The VPHP system can be recommended as an alternative system for traditional system using ethylene oxide, formaldehyde or chlorine dioxide.

• Journal of environmental and Sanitary engineering
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.30-36
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• 2004

Dry decontamination technique is required for maintaining nuclear material handling equipment contaminated with highly radioactive material in a hot cell. In order to determine the optimum blasting conditions of dry ice pellet blasting device, the basic experiments have been conducted on the simulated test specimens of four types of metals. The removal efficiency of test piece was evaluated by the XRF analysis and the change of the surface condition before and after blasting. The removal efficiency of cesium on loose contamination was 100% under blasting pressure; 3 kg/$cm^2$, blasting distance; 10 cm, blasting time: 10 sec. In case of fixed contamination, the removal efficiency of cesium was almost 96% under blasting pressure; 4kg/$cm^2$, blasting distance; 10 cm, blasting time; 30 sec.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.3293-3298
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• 2022

Removing radioactive contaminated metal materials is a vital task during the decommissioning of nuclear power plants to reduce the cost of the post-dismantling process. The laser decontamination technique has been recognized as a key tool for a successful dismantling process as it enables a remote operation in radioactive facilities. It also minimizes exposure of workers to hazardous materials and reduces secondary waste, increasing the environmental friendless of the post-dismantling processing. In this work, we present a thorough and efficient laser decontamination approach using a single-mode continuous-wave (CW) laser. We subjected stainless steels to a surface-removal process that repetitively exposes the laser to a confined region of ~75 ㎛ at a high scanning rate of 10 m/s. We evaluate the decontamination performance by measuring the removal depth with a 3D scanning microscope and further investigate optimal removal conditions given practical parameters such as the laser power and scan properties. We successfully removed the metal surface to a depth of more than 40 ㎛ with laser power of 300 W and ten scans, showing the potential to achieve an extremely high DF more than 1000 by simply increasing the number of scans and the laser power for the decontamination of primary circuits.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.62-67
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• 2001

Green technology is being developed up to a point that is feasible not only in an environmental sense, but also in an economical viewpoint. This paper introduces two case studies that applied $CO_2$ technology into nuclear industry. 1) Nuclear laundry : A laundry machine that uses liquid and supercritical $CO_2$ as a solvent for decontamination of contaminated working dresses in nuclear power plants was developed. The machine consists of a 16 liter reactor, a recovery system with compressors, and storage tanks. All $CO_2$ used in cleaning is fully recovered and reused in next cleaning, resulting in no production of secondary nuclear waste. Decontamination factor is still lower than that in the methods currently used in the plant. Nuclear laundry using $CO_2$ looks promising with technical improvements-surfactants and mechanical agitation. 2) $CO_2$ nozzle decontamination : An adjustable nozzle for controlling the size of dry ice snow was developed. Using the developed nozzle, a surface decontamination device was made. Human oils like fingerprints on glass were easy to remove. Decontamination ability was tested using a contaminated pump-housing surface. About 40 to 80% of radioactivity was removed. This device is effective in surface-decontamination of any electrical devices like detector, controllers which cannot be cleaned in aqueous solution.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.199-206
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• 2002

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.572-576
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• 2005

This study focused on detecting catabolic genes for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) distributed in the reed rhizosphere of Sunchon Bay, Korea. These marsh and mud environments were severely affected by human activities, including agriculture and fisheries. Our previous study on microbial roles in natural decontamination displayed the possibility that PAH-degrading bacteria, such as Achromobacter sp., Alcaligenes sp., Burkholderia sp. and Pseudomonas sp. play an important decontamination role in a reed rhizosphere. In order to gain further fundamental knowledge on the natural decontamination process, catabolic genes for PAH metabolism were investigated through PCR amplification of dioxygenase genes using soil genomic DNA and sequencing. Comparative analysis of predicted amino acid sequences from 50 randomly selected dioxygenase clones capable of hydroxylating inactivated aromatic nuclei indicated that these were divided into three groups, two of which might be originated from PAH-degrading bacteria. Amino acid sequences of each dioxygenase clone were a part of the genes encoding enzymes for initial catabolism of naphthalene, phenanthrene, or pyrene that might be originated from bacteria in the reed rhizosphere of Sunchon Bay.