SPECIAL REPORT: CBRN SOLUTIONS TESTING FOR MILITARY OPERATIONS
The test environment may include the use of chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, biological agents and radioactive matter, as well as any number of other intrusive agents
•S tudying the behaviour, distribution, dispersion, sorption, etc. of toxic industrial chemicals and chemical warfare agents, most biological agents, some radioactive materials, and validation of various models; •P erforming the survivability testing and validation trials of versatile defence and security systems and testing the effects of CBRN agents on equipment in sealed airtight chambers for the evaluation of: • individual and collective means of protection, •p erformance and sensitivity of detectors/ sensors, •e ffectiveness of complex decontamination systems, decontaminants, and decontamination processes. •E ducation and training of first responders or persons who may come into contact with dangerous CBRN substances during their work. The performance of experiments and their progress, including the gathering of near realtime data, can be observed from any place in the world via secured Internet connection.
FIGURE 1: PREPARATION OF THE EXPERIMENTS
contaminating test surfaces, which were further treated as samples. After the expiration of exposure time, the samples were either directly decontaminated, or placed into the vehicle in order to simulate the vehicle interior contamination, and decontaminated by the tested technology.
Experience The effectiveness of several state-of-the-art decontamination systems using different technologies and decontaminants was tested on various specimens contaminated with live chemical, biological and radiological agents. The main goal was to verify the theoretical assumptions and laboratory results under operational conditions. Verification of decontamination efficiency was performed in compliance with the requirements of AEP-58 (NATO decontamination triptych). The variables which determine the effectiveness of decontamination include the nature of contaminating agents and decontaminants, contamination density, contact time, surface material, temperature, and many others. Some of them were kept constant during the testing, while others were altered according to the requirements. The technical procedures were developed in cooperation with Marble ChemBio Consulting, using AEP-58 Protocols as a starting point. The experiments were conducted in the above-mentioned tunnels of different size. The tests of the technology under evaluation (represented by different decontamination systems) were performed in the larger tunnel. For contamination of samples and preparation of the decontamination experiments, a compact fume hood and glove box was used. The general test procedure consisted of placing the decontamination systems and, in some cases, other auxiliary equipment, in the tunnel (e.g. personal Skoda car), and subsequently 4 | WWW.DEFENCEINDUSTRYREPORTS.COM
FIGURE 2: SIMULATION OF VEHICLE INTERIOR CONTAMINATION
FIGURE 3: DECONTAMINATION WITH TESTED TECHNOLOGY
Upon completion of the decontamination process, the samples were removed and prepared for analysis. The smaller part of the assembled testing tunnels was used for personal decontamination as well as for the decontamination of used devices and boxes with samples before transferring them to the analytical laboratories outside the testing facility for evaluation. Within the tests, several chemical (VX, GD, HD) and biological agents (spores of Bacillus anthracis and Bacillus globigii), and radioactive lanthanum with short half-life (La140) were used on different materials. CARC test coupons (steel painted with polyurethane paint), coupons