Method of and apparatus for cleaning garments and soft goods contaminated with nuclear, chemical and/or biological contaminants

A method is described for decontaminating garments, soft good or mixtures thereof contaminated with radioactive particulates, toxin, chemical, and biological contaminants comprising the steps of: (a) depositing contaminated garments, soft goods or mixtures thereof in a cleaning drum; (b) charging the drum with a cleaning solvent in which the chemical contaminants are soluble; (c) agitating the drum during a wash cycle to separate radioactive, toxin, biological particulate matter of mixtures thereof from the garments; (d) draining the drum of the dry cleaning solvent which contains suspended particulate contaminants and dissolved chemical contaminants; (e) contacting the drained solvent with both a neutralizing agent and an oxidizing agent, the neutralizing agent being selected from the group consisting of sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide and mixtures thereof and having a concentration greater than one (1.0) normal; (f) rinsing the garments, soft goods or mixtures thereof by circulating clean solvent from a solvent tank through the drum thereby effecting additional removal and flushing of particulate and chemical contaminants; (g) filtering the circulated solvent to remove the particulate material suspended in the solvent prior to addition to the drum; and (h) preferentially adsorbing the chemical contaminants dissolved in the circulated solvent prior to addition to the drum