Secondary Containment: Choosing the Right Coating

This article discusses the placement of treatment tanks within concrete vaults or walled structures in order to provide secondary containment in the event of a leak. Some of the regulatory requirements for concrete containment structures are briefly discussed. Although there are many types of coatings and fillers to provide an impervious surface to a structure, this article limits itself to a discussion of liquid‐applied coating systems and uses an example of an effective phenolic‐novolac epoxy medium film coating system. The article provides a table outlining chemical effects on concrete secondary containment units.