Practical means for decontamination 9 years after a nuclear accident

Nine years after the Chernobyl accident, the contamination problems of the most severely affected areas remain unsolved. As a consequence of this, large previously inhabited areas and areas of farmland now lie deserted. An international group of scientists funded by the EU European Collaboration Programme (ECP/4) has investigated in practice a great number of feasible means to solve the current problems.

The basic results of this work group are presented in this report that was prepared in a format which facilitates an intercomparison (cost-benefit analysis) of the individual examined techniques for decontamination or dose reduction in various different types of environmental scenarios. Each file containing information on a method or procedure was created by the persons and institutes responsible for the practical trial.

Although the long period that has elapsed since the contamination took place has added to the difficulties in removing the radioactive matter, it could be concluded that many of the methods are still capable of reducing the dose level substantially