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2009 Issues Archive
9 September 2009
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Humble household cleaner does the job at Dounreay
Workers at the Dounreay nuclear site are using a householder cleaner to remove plutonium stains from old processing equipment.
The use of industrial cleaning fluids was slowing down the decommissioning of an experimental chemical plant used in the 1980s. After watching a TV advert where grime is stripped from a 2p piece, the cleaning team decided to test Cillit Bang as a cleaning agent for plutonium stains on the old plant.
The £1.99 household cleaner proved effective and, according to Dounreay Site Restoration, is playing a “key role” in keeping the clean-up and demolition of the plant on track.
David Manson, project manager for Dounreay Site Restoration, said: “The normal decontamination agents we’d use on steel and glass need time to dry and slowed us down. The acids that had been used years ago also created problems. It meant we had to think carefully about the most effective way to wipe the plutonium from the steelwork before we could cut it up.”
Mr Muscle Window Cleaner has also been used to decontaminate glass columns and gloveboxes in the old plant, which was a test facility for the Thorp reprocessing plant at Sellafield.
Members of the 15-strong clean-up team wear whole-body plastic suits with oxygen supply and up to five layers of gloves. They are using Cillit Bang to clean the ancillary plant, such as ventilation ducts.
Manson said: “Domestic cleaners have proved very effective.”
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© PE Publishing, 9 September 2009
