Radium 226 Decontamination & Decommissioning

Flannery Building
Oakland, PA

The Flannery Building was used for radium processing in the early 1900s. The building consisted of four stories and a basement that were involved in process operations. Decommissioning and cleanup activities were performed in the 1960s and the 1970s and the building was released for general commercial use. In 1999, levels of residual contamination above levels that would be considered safe for general commercial use were identified.

ENERCON was retained to determine the extent of remaining contamination, develop a plan for removing the contamination, and then implement the plan so that the building could be reused without any radiological restrictions. ENERCON completed extensive characterization surveys of the building to identify residual contamination. ENERCON surveyed over 53,400 square feet and performed 40,000 measurements of various types to quantify removal of contamination in the building.

Based upon the extensive characterization effort, ENERCON planned and implemented a systematic program to decontaminate areas with localized contamination. A total of approximately 49,500 square feet of building surfaces were remediated with various techniques including scabbling, needle gunning, grinding, targeted removal, and use of cleaning agents. The remaining structural and inaccessible areas of approximately 3,900 square feet were analyzed and accepted for unrestricted release based on dose exposures well below 5uR/hr.

ENERCON worked closely with the State of Pennsylvania throughout the project. Based upon confirmatory surveys, monitoring of the project, and the final RESRAD dose analysis, the state of Pennsylvania released the property with no restrictions on occupancy or use.

ENERCON provided health and safety oversight for the entire duration of the project. The project was completed with no lost time accidents or injuries with over 170,000 manhours committed to the project.

For additional information on this project, please visit the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) website by clicking here.

Task Highlights

• Radiological Decontamination
• Radiological Waste Management
• Radiological Waste Transportation
• Radiological Characterization
• Waste Minimization
• ZERO Safety Recordables
• Final Status Surveys
• Final Status Survey Report
• Regulatory Interface

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