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Polonium 210 decontamination London

In November 2006 the Government Decontamination Service (GDS) was requested, via the GDS emergency contact procedures, to attend the Cabinet Office Briefing Rooms to participate in a meeting of the Civil Contingencies Committee. It had been established that Alexander Litvineko had died as a result of ingesting a radioactive isotope identified as Polonium 210. Forensic investigation established a number of venues across London had been contaminated.

GDS opened its Emergency Operations Centre, based at the HQ in Stafford, from where GDS involvement was coordinated. During the response phase of the incident GDS Specialist Framework Suppliers were deployed to London, at the request of the Health Protection Agency to provide assistance with monitoring for health protection purposes. GDS provided advice, guidance and access to the GDS Specialist Supplier Framework to the Metropolitan Police Gold Command and subsequently at the Recovery Working Group, chaired by the Chief Executive Officer from Westminster City Council.

GDS worked closely with partners from Westminster City Council, Health and Safety Executive, Environment Agency, Department of Transport and the Health Protection Agency on the production of a framework strategy for dealing with radioactive contamination arising from circumstances surrounding the death of Alexander Litvinenko. Decontamination work was carried out at nine venues using a variety of methods from wiping impervious surfaces with tacky cloths, to removal of loose contamination or more aggressive methods involving removal of the contaminated areas that exceeded the reference level provided by the Health Protection Agency.

Following the incident GDS has participated in a number of lessons identified events and also commissioned each of the radiological contractors to document their involvement in the incident, to enable lessons to be learned. This information has been shared across Government to improve resilience through enhanced planning. GDS has also reviewed its operational procedures to reflect lessons learnt.

Article reproduced from GDS Newsletter published 28 September 2007