Peelable Nanocomposite Coatings: "Eco-Friendly" Tools for the Safe Removal of Radiopharmaceutical Spills or Accidental Contamination of Surfaces in General-Purpose Radioisotope Laboratories

Radioactive materials are potentially harmful due to the radiation emitted by radionuclides and the risk of radioactive contamination. Despite strict compliance with safety protocols, contamination with radioactive materials is still possible. This paper describes innovative and inexpensive formulations that can be employed as 'eco-friendly' tools for the safe decontamination of radiopharmaceuticals spills or other accidental radioactive contamination of the surfaces arising from general-purpose radioisotope handling facilities (radiopharmaceutical laboratories, hospitals, research laboratories, etc.). These new peelable nanocomposite coatings are obtained from water-based, non-toxic, polymeric blends containing readily biodegradable components, which do not damage the substrate on which they are applied while also displaying efficient binding and removal of the contaminants from the targeted surfaces. The properties of the film-forming decontamination solutions were assessed using rheological measurements and evaporation rate tests, while the resulting strippable coatings were subjected to Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and tensile tests. Radionuclide decontamination tests were performed on various types of surfaces encountered in radioisotope workspaces (concrete, painted metal, ceramic tiles, linoleum, epoxy resin cover). Thus, it was shown that they possess remarkable properties (thermal and mechanical resistance which permits facile removal through peeling) and that their capacity to entrap and remove beta and alpha particle emitters depends on the constituents of the decontaminating formulation, but more importantly, on the type of surface tested. Except for the cement surface (which was particularly porous), at which the decontamination level ranged between approximately 44% and 89%, for all the other investigated surfaces, a decontamination efficiency ranging from 80.6% to 96.5% was achieved.

Decontamination of radioactive hazardous materials by using novel biodegradable strippable coatings and new generation complexing agents

Eight different types of complexing agents were employed for the development of new biodegradable decontamination solutions that are able to form strippable coatings after they are dispersed and allowed to dry on a variety of surfaces contaminated with ⁶⁰Co, ¹³³Ba, ¹³⁷Cs and ²⁴¹Am radioactive isotopes. The new generation of eco-friendly chelators with superior biodegradability, utilized for the first time in such applications, can easily replace the non-biodegradable and carcinogenic complexing agents that are still in use today, due to their decontamination performances. Furthermore, besides the complexing action over the radionuclides, the solutions contain two types of clays, Bentonite (BT) and Saponite (SP), which have the capacity to adsorb specific ions, improving the decontamination efficiency of the solutions. Our research revealed that it is preferable to replace BT with SP, due to its better dispersibility, thermal stability, next to superior ability to gel and better thermal stability (Miles, 2011). The solutions showed a decontamination factor superior to 95% for ¹³⁷Cs (on all surfaces), over 90% for ⁶⁰Co and ¹³³Ba, and more than 72% ²⁴¹Am (on all surfaces), except for galvanized metal plates, where lower decontamination factors were obtained: over 70% for ¹³³Ba, maximum 41.87% for ²⁴¹Am and 43.19% for ⁶⁰Co.