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DOE OSTI · 3376648

Using radioactive material to evaluate decontamination of contaminated electronics

Heiden, Zachariah M. [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000271924441)·Kazi, Zakir [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)]·Cree, Warren [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)]·Mann, Nick [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)]·Hines, C. Corey [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)]·Green, Anna Rae [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)]·Redmore, Naomi [Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, Alexandria, VA (United States)]
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Abstract

Electronic materials are used everywhere and can get easily contaminated by their use in the field/laboratory. The goal of this project was to use radioactive material to track the effectiveness of a cleaning procedure using an off-the-shelf cleaning gel. Radioactive potassium bromide (KBr) was used as a model contaminant in four contamination scenarios to gauge the effectiveness of a cleaning gel in the decontamination of contaminated raspberry pi’s. Finally, the investigated decontamination technique was found to be 75–97% effective in removing contamination from the tested electronic devices. 95% of the contaminated electronic devices retained their functionality post-decontamination.

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38 - RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRYKBrdecontaminationelectronicsradiation

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Heiden, Zachariah M. [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000271924441), Kazi, Zakir [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)], Cree, Warren [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)], Mann, Nick [Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)], Hines, C. Corey [Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)], Green, Anna Rae [Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC) (Canada)], Redmore, Naomi [Irregular Warfare Technical Support Directorate, Alexandria, VA (United States)]. 2025-10-24. Using radioactive material to evaluate decontamination of contaminated electronics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-025-10453-z

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