Analysis of case studies - contaminated facilities and sites

A critical analysis has been made of the case studies presented at this symposium on rehabilitation of areas contaminated with radioactive materials by (1) nuclear weapons tests, (2) accidents and (3) residues from the termination of practices and past activities. The overall radiation protection approach used in each of these major categories of contamination is briefly discussed. The practice or intervention criteria used for rehabilitation of the contaminated sites, the application of non-radiological factors, and the involvement of stakeholders in the decision making process on cleanup of the sites, are reviewed. A technical summary of the applied cleanup methods and the achieved radiological outcome is presented. For some intervention situations amongst the case studies, cleanup measures as well as other long term remedial measures were not driven by radiological protection considerations alone. This was particularly distinct for the cleanup of the Fields Brook Superfund Site in Ohio, the long term remedial measures implemented in Belarus and Russia after the Chernobyl accident, the long term cleanup measures after the Goiania accident and the planned cleanup of Rongelap Island after the nuclear weapon tests. (author)