ABSTRACT

CONTENTS Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1263 Objectives of Equipment Decontamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1264 Current Status of Equipment Decontamination Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1264 Preparing an Effective Decontamination Protocol for Field Equipment . . . . . . . . . . 1265

What Equipment Requires Field Decontamination? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1265 Using Disposable Equipment to Avoid Equipment Decontamination Issues . . . . 1267 When and Where Should Equipment Be Decontaminated? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268

Remote Equipment Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1268 Field Equipment Cleaning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1269

Selecting an Appropriate Decontamination Protocol . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Factors to Evaluate on a Task-Specific Basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1272 Available Decontamination Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274

Methods for Larger Support Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1274 Methods for Sample Collection or Analysis Equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1276

Inherent Problems with Decontamination Techniques . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1278 Quality Assurance/Quality Control Components of Decontamination

Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1279 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1280

As discussed throughout this text, many different types of samples and field data are collected during the course of environmental site characterization and ground-water monitoring projects. In many cases, the primary objectives of these projects are to determine the presence or absence of subsurface contamination, assess the three-dimensional extent of contamination in a variety of media, and determine the environmental and health risk associated with that contamination. To meet these objectives, it is critical that samples obtained for field or laboratory analysis be representative, accurate, and precise, and not be influenced by bias or error associated with sample collection. The

economic and technical consequences associated with making decisions based on field and laboratory analyses of samples that are not representative can be substantial.