Decontamination scenarios

Fortunately, skin or wound contamination rarely presents a life-threatening risk to either patients or health care personnel (5). The best possible scenario is decontamination in the field before transport however, following an attack with a radiologic dispersion device (ROD), patients suffering trauma will most likely present to emergency departments before undergoing external contamination. 

The conclusions of the investigation team as summarized in the report were The process of sending VX contaminated liquid and saturated spill pillows to the DFS in excess of the decontamination capability of the furnace system appears to be the major cause of the chemical event. There are no other scenarios consistent with the physical evidence observed in bin 135 that could have resulted in the agent levels that were recorded during this chemical event. A faster response from the lab and a procedure that includes an action level for the exceedance of waste control limits would have reduced the amount of time bin 135 was outside of engineering controls. A detailed review of standard operating procedures for bulk solid waste fed to the DFS should be conducted. In addition, a narrower definition of what constitutes bulk solid waste should be developed. ... 

Other scenarios that need to be considered include contamination of food and public places and, in such situations, levels to which it is necessary to decontaminate to ensure public safety. A further consideration of importance is the toxicity of nerve agent degradation products (see review by Munro et al., 1999) and, particularly in the case of terrorist use, manufacturing contaminants. 

The threat that chemical agents will be used by hostile forces continues to be a military concern. However, effective personal protective measures and environmental detection systems will likely provide satisfactory protection for the forces in nearly all perceived scenarios involving agents described in earlier chapters of this textbook. Carefully followed decontamination procedures will reduce the possibility of further injury and allow medical personnel to render appropriate care to casualties. 

Chapters 1 and 2 provide an overview of the current situation and provide detailed background on the four worlds construct - the scenarios - used to frame the study. Chapter 3 describes the potential applications for nanotechnology in specific areas of CB defense - physical protection, detection and diagnostics, decontamination, and medical countermeasures. Chapter 4 examines the potential for intentional misuse of nanotechnology in the chem-bio regime. Chapter 5 outlines near-term research directions, and Chapter 6 provides a sununary and concluding remarks. 

This book is part of a 15-hour basic training course. This course consists of a series of lectures about the various terrorist weapons and methods of attack and the proper way to respond to them. Along with the lectures will be demonstrations of various types of equipment needed to identify the weapon being used. The course also consists of four hands-on skill stations to teach how to use personal protective equipment (PPE), how to decontaminate patients, how to use the Nerve Agent Antidote Kit, and scenario exercises in how to respond to the various types of terrorist attacks. These same principles apply to responding to hazardous materials incidents and clandestine drug laboratories. 

The first responding senior officer would implement and take command of the ICS. That person would size-up the incident and determine if additional jjersonnel and apparatus were necessary would determine what actions to take to control the leak and, determine the proper level of personal protective equipment. If additional assistance is not needed, the individual in charge of the ICS would implement actions to stop and control the leak using the fewest number of personnel that can effectively accomplish the tasks. The individual in charge of the ICS then would designate himself as the safety officer and two other employees as a back-up in case rescue may become necessary. In this scenario, decontamination procedures would not be necessary. 

One possible scenario includes the start of reprocessing about the year 19W at about 1500 MTU y over a 2 to 3 year period. Capacity would probably remain at 1500 MTU y" until new friel reprocessing plants were constructed at the end of the century. About 15,000 MTU of spent fuel could be processed by the year 2000 in such a scenario. This amount of fuel would contain 600 Ci of I. At a decontamination factor of 500,1.2 Ci of would have been released to the atmosphere by the year 2000 at an average rate of about 0.12 Ci per year between the year 1990 and 2000. For a population distribution around U.S. nuclear fuel reprocessing plants similar to that presented above, the total dose equivalent commitment to the population within 80 km (50 miles) of the plant would be about 43 person-thyroid rem in the year 2000. Since the in the soil adds about 1 perceht per year to the dose, the 1.2 curies accumulated to the year 2000 would add about another 4.3 person-thyroid-rem. The total collective dose commitment then would be 47 person-thyroid-rem during the year 2000. 

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