Decontamination of radioactively contaminated surfaces — Testing of decontamination agents for textiles

This document applies to the testing of the decontamination of textiles, which are contaminated by radioactive materials.

The test method describes the technique to assess the efficiency of decontamination agents (see ISO 7503 1 and ISO 7503 3).

This document applies to the testing of detergents, which may be used in aqueous solutions for the purpose of cleaning radioactively contaminated textiles.

The radionuclides used in this test are those commonly found in the nuclear industry (60Co and 137Cs or 134Cs) in aqueous form. The test can also be adapted for use with other radionuclides and other chemical forms, depending on the customer requirements, if the solutions are chemically stable and do not damage the test specimen.

The test method is not suitable if the radionuclide emits low energy gamma rays, like 55Fe, or low energy beta or alpha particles that are readily attenuated in the textile fabrics, or if the nuclide has a chemical or isotopic interaction with the detergent used in the method (e.g. tritium which could be in several chemical forms).

The test method does not apply to the testing of the ability of detergents to remove non-radioactive dirt.