The effectiveness of decontamination products in the nuclear medicine department.

UNLABELLED This study assesses the effectiveness of using everyday cleaning agents for the radioactive decontamination of wet (99m)Tc-pertechnetate spills in the nuclear medicine department. METHODS Six cleaning agents (water, water and soap, alcohol, bleach, a commercial glass cleaner, and a commercial decontaminating agent) were analyzed for decontamination effectiveness for a wide range of surfaces (Formica, vinyl, vinyl-polyester, plastic, rubber, and polyester). RESULTS Within the experiment, the contamination was removed to radioactivity levels of less than 1% of the original contamination level. CONCLUSION The results indicate that for a range of surfaces, the investigated commercially available cleaning agents had little or no benefit over plain tap water when used to decontaminate (99m)Tc-pertechnetate spills.