Beryllium Decontamination with Different Solvents on Different Structures

The objective of the present work was to estimate the efficiency of moistened wipes in removing beryllium with different solutions including Citranox, Alconox, NaCl 5%, Resolve, and Ledizolv on various types of surfaces such as unpainted metal, wood frames, painted metal, concrete, painted concrete, and Plexiglas from three different occupational settings. Of the three plants that were investigated, only surfaces in the aluminium smelter were decontaminated down to the clearance reference level of 0.2 microg 100 cm(-2), with all the solvents used. In the machine tooling and milling department, the clearance level of 0.2 microg 100 cm(-2) was reached after the three decontaminations, with all the solvents. In the machine plant for the military, aerospace, and telecommunications industries, the beryllium concentrations on the concrete wall, before decontamination with the high-pressure gun, were usually >3 microg 100 cm(-2), and concentrations as high as 31 microg 100 cm(-2) were measured. After the high-pressure cleanup, the beryllium concentrations were sometimes reduced by a factor of 10, but never reached the clearance level. Beryllium compounds that had adhered to most types of structures that we attempted to decontaminate were reduced to below the clearance reference value except on concrete floors. There did not seem to be any difference between the decontamination actions for all the solvents used in this study.