Anthrax Decontamination, US Capitol Building

KEMRON completed remedial and removal actions during the decontamination program at the Hart, Longfellow and Ford US Senate and House office buildings in response to an anthrax release. KEMRON, under the USEPA Region 3 Emergency Response Group, responded and was on site within 24 hours. KEMRON, operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for a period of 10 weeks, performed removal efforts, physical removal and disposal of expendable items, and final remediation of spores using chemical treatment through a fumigation process and a direct spray/washdown process.

KEMRON also provided technical oversight, multimedia sampling, air monitoring and verification testing on both the physical removal effort and chemical destruction process. Due to the inherent difficulty in performing anthrax removal and destruction, much of the site work operating procedures were developed at the job site in conjunction with the regulators, USEPA’s Emergency Response Team, CDC, ATSDR, Capitol Hill Police, US Coast Guard, National Guard, US Marines, MD Department of the Environment and VA Department of Environmental Protection and in coordination with stakeholders. A true partnering relationship was established in order to move quickly through pilot testing of anthrax destruction / decontamination to full-scale implementation.

Project Facts

Client	USEPA Region 3
Value	$2.5 million
Location	Washington, DC

Relevant KEMRON Service Areas:

Remedial Action Design and Implementation

Chemical Treatment

Troubleshooting

"The KEMRON Team's performance is highlighted by their technical competence and reliability with critical tasks directly related to remediating offices contaminated with spores. Their clear understanding of the objectives, following critical operational procedures and reporting back to EPA provided a high degree of confidence that is essential in such an operation."

- EPA On-Sc ene Coordinator

This highly innovative approach to biological decontamination was conducted in Level B or modified Level C protective gear. KEMRON remediation specialists worked in teams of cleanup technicians, safety managers and site supervisors. Work areas were isolated using isolation barriers with negative air pressure maintained. Removal efforts were conducted systematically evacuating particles using HEPA vacuums from objects of value and physically removing all expendable items for off-site disposal.

KEMRON was charged with the decontamination of the two most highly contaminated areas in the Hart Building – Senator Daschle Suite and the nine-story HVAC system. Fumigation and chemical washdown procedures were employed for these two highly contaminated areas requiring workers to be in Level B protection and confined space entry for the HVAC system.