Indoor and Outdoor Decontamination Research

Research Focus

The main focus of indoor and outdoor decontamination research is on improving the nation’s ability to respond to terrorist attacks affecting indoor and outdoor environments. The thematic research areas include:

• Detection research, which results in detection techniques (e.g., laboratory methods, technology evaluations) that will enable the rapid characterization of threats and identification contaminants.
• Containment and mitigation research, which results in reports, databases, and computer models that provide information on the movement and health effects of contaminants.
• Remediation research, which delivers reports, techniques, and tools to support the remediation (decontamination and associated material disposal) of buildings and outdoor environments following an incident of national significance.

Homeland security research yields new technologies for detection, monitoring, treatment, and decontamination but also includes testing and evaluating commercially available technologies. The technologies are tested per the manufacturer’s specifications and evaluated to determine whether they perform as advertised. The results help response professionals make decisions regarding the suitability of these technologies for their needs. More

Detection – This research focuses on the development of new chemical, biological, and radiological detection technologies. It also includes evaluating existing instruments for specific homeland security applications, as well as developing sampling procedures and laboratory-based analysis methods for contamination agents in environmental media.

Containment and Mitigation – Following a terrorist attack, public exposure to contamination must be minimized. Airborne releases of hazardous agents and contamination of environmental surfaces can lead to the spread of the contaminant through reaerosolization, tracking, or transfer to clothing, skin, or equipment. One of the goals of containment and mitigation research is to predict the dispersion of contaminants. Research under this theme also includes the establishment of exposure-based requirements for reentry into facilities and outdoor areas during and after decontamination.

Remediation – This research provides scientific information for safely minimizing the time of restoration. This is accomplished by determining contaminant fate and persistence, evaluating existing decontamination methods, developing/improving decontamination technologies and methods, and assessing options for disposal of residuals. This research also involves establishing the scientific basis for cleanup levels and methods for determining whether clearance (cleanup) criteria have been met.

Additional information on indoor and outdoor decontamination, including detection, containment/mitigation, and remediation (disposal) research, is presented in the video Decontamination and Consequence in Management: Science in Action (Refer to the Decontamination and Consequence Management video dated 4/21/08).

Future Research

Due to the urgent need following the delivery of anthrax-contaminated letters in 2001, the initial focus of indoor and outdoor decontamination research was on the recovery and restoration of buildings contaminated with Bacillus anthracis (anthrax spores). Such spores are considered the most difficult of the biological threat agents to inactivate. Future research will address additional biological, chemical, and radiological contamination, and contamination of wide urban areas.

Future research in the area of detection will involve evaluations of additional detection instruments; further development of real-time, portable chemical and biological detectors; and development of more sensitive sampling and analysis methods. Ongoing and future containment studies will address infiltration of contaminants into buildings, adhesion and reaerosolization of deposited particulate contaminant, methods to decontaminate personal protective equipment, and the development of advisory and acute exposure guidance levels. Research findings will be incorporated into a comprehensive software tool that will provide guidance for improving building security. Ongoing and future research in the area of remediation will focus on evaluating and improving decontamination methods, developing improved biological indicators to assess fumigation efficacy, enhancing the available Disposal Decision Support Tool, and implementing full-scale remediation field tests. This research will provide responders with tested, safe, efficacious, rapid, nondestructive methods for addressing a wide range of contamination threats.

Directives

EPA’s homeland security mission pertaining to remediation of indoor and outdoor environments evolved from EPA’s primary mission and other federal directives, including several homeland security presidential directives (HSPDs). The following HSPDs drive our indoor and outdoor decontamination research:

• HSPD-7: Critical Infrastructure Identification, Prioritization, and Protection designates the Department of Homeland Security as the lead for coordinating the overall national effort to enhance the protection of critical infrastructures and key resources in the United States. It assigns specific agencies with responsibility for infrastructure protection activities in designated critical infrastructure sectors or key resources categories (e.g., mass transit, agriculture, banking and finance, energy) and requires all federal agencies to develop plans for protecting the physical and cyber critical infrastructure and key resources that they own and operate.
• HSPD-9: Defense of United States Agriculture and Food establishes a national policy to defend the agriculture and food system against terrorist attacks, major disasters, and other emergencies. This is done by both identifying and prioritizing sector-critical infrastructure and key resources for establishing protection requirements, developing awareness and early warning capabilities to recognize threats, mitigating vulnerabilities at critical production and processing nodes, enhancing screening procedures for domestic and imported products, and enhancing response and recovery procedures.
• HSPD-10: Biodefense for the 21st Century directs agencies to develop standards, protocols, and capabilities for addressing the risk of contamination following a biological weapons attack and to develop strategies, guidelines, and plans for decontamination of persons, equipment, and facilities.

Products

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Researchers produce reports, journal articles, guidance documents, protocols, and tools related to indoor and outdoor decontamination research. Homeland security research yields products based on scientific research and technology evaluations. The products and expertise are widely used in preventing, preparing for, and recovering from public health and environmental emergencies that arise from terrorist attacks. Products are categorized by the research focus areas of detection, containment and mitigation, and remediation. Some examples of products are listed below:

Detection – Major accomplishments from this research include improving detection of hazardous chemicals, upgrading a mobile van used for monitoring during anthrax fumigations and at the national Democratic and Republican conventions and high-profile sporting events, such as the Super Bowl. The research also has included developing a portable prototype and a real-time detector for anthrax and ricin, developing The Standardized Analytical Methods for Environmental Restoration Following Homeland Security Events (SAM) manual, and preparing a radiation detectors’ equipment guide for training local emergency responders.

Containment and Mitigation – Products from the containment research program include a guide for making buildings less vulnerable to airborne attack and an evaluation of the effectiveness of sheltering-in-place in homes or commercial buildings. Workshops/courses for building professionals on preparing for and recovering from attacks have been conducted. A college curriculum on building protection has also been developed.

In addition, provisional advisory levels (PALs) are available for over 40 chemicals and chemical warfare agents. PALs are short-term (24-hour to 2-year) health-based advisory levels that help inform decisions about acceptable exposure of the public.

Remediation – Major remediation research products include a compilation of building decontamination methods that reflected the state of the field in 2001; persistence studies on chemical agents, toxic industrial chemicals, and biological agents; and an efficacy evaluation of decontamination methods under field operating conditions, along with an evaluation of the effects of decontamination chemicals on building materials and sensitive equipment.

In addition, homeland security research has led to the development of several risk-related tools. Specifically, computer programs have been developed to evaluate electronic public health syndromic surveillance data in order to identify potential disease outbreaks early. The message mapping tool was developed to enable members of the emergency response and environmental protection communities to quickly and concisely deliver the most pertinent information about an emergency. The Support for Environmental Rapid Risk Assessment (SERRA) database has been developed to accelerate the risk assessment process and to support emergency response.

Technology Testing and Evaluations – Several detection technologies have been evaluated. These technologies include:

• Chemical detection technologies
• Ion mobility spectrometers
• Surface acoustic wave detectors

Decontamination technologies are also being evaluated. These technologies include:

• Fumigant decontamination technologies
• Liquid decontamination technologies
• Ventilation media air filters

Note that initial research focused on response to interior contamination of critical infrastructures (e.g., buildings, transportation facilities) with biological and chemical agents. However, since 2007, research has focused more on decontaminating outdoor environments contaminated with biological, chemical, and radiological agents. Indoor restoration research has become more focused on decontamination of surfaces contaminated with radiological agents.

Stakeholders

The primary client of indoor and outdoor decontamination research is the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, the EPA organization tasked with implementing most efforts regarding preparing for and responding to indoor and outdoor terrorist attacks. Several other organizations influence homeland security research. Within the federal government, scientists from the homeland security research program work collaboratively with EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs on the efficacy of antimicrobial chemicals and the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, and Energy’s national laboratories, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology on a wide range of research coordination and collaborative research projects. External expert reviewers, including the National Academy of Sciences and EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board, have advised the program on performance and strategic directions.