Process and associated equipment for decontaminating, cleaning all surfaces which are covered with transferrable contamination of a nuclear nature, without creating other wastes

The invention relates to a process for removing all transferrable contamination of a nuclear nature without creating new nuclear contamination wastes. This process is characterised by the following three stages: spraying and covering the contaminated surfaces with dry ice, without causing any blast; spraying a jet of steam or hot air on to the coated surfaces from very close range; forced ventilation causing total evaporation of the dry ice, bringing about the phenomenon of sublimation. The device for applying the process comprises a dry ice emitter and a spray nozzle for water vapour at a temperature in excess of 700C. (author)