2019 EPA International Decontamination Research and Development Conference

2019 International Decontamination Research and Development Conference Proceedings

November 19-21, 2019
Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel
777 Waterside Drive, Norfolk, Virginia USA

The 11th International Conference on Decontamination Research and Development hosted by U.S. EPA's Office of Research and Development's Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response. 

Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel
Sheraton Norfolk Waterside Hotel 

Background

Since 2005, EPA's Office of Research and Development has organized and hosted an international conference on decontamination research and development. Decontamination is one of the critical challenges that the United States and EPA would face in recovering from a major chemical, biological, or radiological (CBR) incident. The conference is designed to facilitate presentation, discussion, and further collaboration on research and development focused on an all-hazards approach to cleaning up contaminated buildings (both interior and exterior), infrastructure, and other areas/materials. The conference continues to focus strongly on matters involving CBR threat agents, but also includes all hazard elements.

Topics for this conference include:

  • New chemical, biological, and radiological (CBR) detection and decontamination research data or field activities and large scale demonstrations related to the detection and decontamination of biological (including agricultural threat agents and biotoxins), chemical, and radiological threat agents in indoor (in facilities) or outdoor areas/materials;
  • Cross-cutting topics related to restoration, including: clean-up levels/risk assessment, exposure assessment, sampling/analysis of threat agents, fate/transport/containment, material compatibility with decontamination processes, tool and guidance development, waste management of threat agent-contaminated materials, water/wastewater decontamination, and systems approach to response and regulatory issues;
  • Regional, state, and local initiatives highlighting local priorities, challenges, and science and technology developments related to response and recovery efforts from intentional or accidental environmental incidents; and
  • Special topics: The special topics will address emerging issues as identified by the conference committee. This year’s special topics are:   
    • Coastal Operational Resiliency (AnCOR) project: presentations and preliminary findings of the EPA/DHS/USCG collaborative project focusing on the post-biological incident consequence management (sampling, decontamination, waste management, etc.) of urban and maritime structures, assets, and surfaces.
    • Waste Management: All Hazards Applications
    • Illicit Drug Remediation Efforts: Opioid Epidemic Efforts
    • Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, Information Sharing, Mapping, & System Integration in Disaster Response
    • Case Studies/Applied Research: Engaging Federal, State, Local Responders, and Industry
    • Case Studies/Applied Research: How Does Bench Scale Correlate to Real Scenarios?

Agenda & Conference Materials

The 2019 EPA International Decontamination Research and Development Conference Agenda is now available!

2019 Decon Conference Agenda (PDF) - Full: Click here 

Conference Materials:

Last update: 11/15/19

Organizing Committee

The conference is hosted by EPA's Homeland Security Research Program. If you have questions about the conference or a proposed presentation, please contact a member of the conference planning committee.

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Last updated on March 14, 2025