Compromise of Personal Protective Clothing from Liquid Exposure

Area of Science:

• Radiological Protection
• Materials Science

Background:

• Multiple personal contamination events occurred at Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Spallation Neutron Source Transfer Bay.
• Suspected causes included personal protective clothing doffing errors or moisture wicking through.
• Visual inspection indicated moisture presence on contaminated clothing.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the susceptibility of various personal protective clothing (PPC) types to workplace liquids.
• To investigate if perspiration or other liquids facilitate contamination transport through PPC.

Main Methods:

• Tested two layers of PPC under static and dynamic (rubbing) conditions with various liquids.
• Used food dye to visualize liquid breakthrough.
• Assessed if solid contamination could be transported with liquids.

Main Results:

• Most non-rubberized PPC materials were permanently compromised by decontamination solvents.
• Common cleaning agents destroyed the hydrophobic properties of tested PPC materials.

Conclusions:

• Compromised PPC may allow radioactive contamination penetration.
• Future work in wet conditions requires PPC proven to prevent wetting agent transport.