The Disposal of Strippable Coatings Employed in Chemical and Radioactive Surface Decontamination

Abstract

Digital Object Identifier 10.32754/JMT.2020.2.02 13 1Abstract—In general, to achieve surface decontamination large amounts of water are used as the main solvent in universal decontamination solutions. The used water, in order to be released in the stream flow, must be treated to eliminate the toxic substances. Strippable coatings visibly minimize the amount of waste resulting from the decontamination process. Biodegradable films based on polyvinyl alcohol were synthesized and used within this study. The polymeric coatings also contains Bentonite nano-clay (BT) that is a rheological agent, a complexing agent used to entrap the heavy metal or radioactive particles and glycerol used as an additive to give the films the proper mechanical properties. Nevertheless, the used coatings must also be disposed of in a certain way. This paper studies few methods in which strippable coatings that are presented as chemical and/or radioactive waste are treated and proposes means to reutilize used films that are or/are not contaminated, but also suggests a simplified technological process for producing such decontamination solutions.