Remediation of contaminated areas. An overview of international guidance

The work described in this report has been performed as a part of the RESTRAT Project FI4P-CT95-0021a (PL 950128) co-funded by the Nuclear Fission Safety Programme of the European Commission. The RESTRAT project has the overall objective of developing generic methodologies for ranking restoration techniques as a function of contamination and site characteristics.

The project includes analyses of existing remediation methodologies and contaminated sites, and is structured in the following steps: • characterisation of relevant contaminated sites • identification and characterisation of relevant restoration techniques • assessment of the radiological impact • development and application of a selection methodology for restoration options • formulation of generic conclusions and development of a manual The project is intended to apply to situations in which sites with nuclear installations have been contaminated with radioactive materials as a result of the operation of these installations.

The areas considered for remedial measures include contaminated land areas, rivers and sediments in rivers, lakes, and sea areas. Criteria for clean-up of contaminated land and criteria for protection of the public against chronic exposure are being developed by Advisory Groups and Task Groups within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

This work has been reviewed and a status as of the beginning of 1998 is given. For illustrative purposes, the basic radiation protection principles of justification and optimisation have been applied to derive generic action levels for clean-up of residential areas contaminated with radioactive materials.

These generic action levels are based upon cost-benefit analyses that include avertable doses and monetary costs of clean-up.