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Radiological & Chemical Characterization

If you’re preparing to undertake a decontamination project of any size, you’ll need to know the extent of contamination that needs to be remediated from your site’s property.

ORAU independently develops and implements radiological and chemical characterization survey plans for state and government agencies, as well as private sector organizations. The plans developed ensure the collection and assessment of the appropriate data quantity and the quality necessary for confident decision-making and controlling project scope uncertainties.

ORAU’s data quality objectives-driven approach minimizes surprises and maximizes efficiencies of remediation resources and their effectiveness to ultimately achieve site cleanup. 

High-quality characterization standards

ORAU doesn’t stop at characterization surveys. After your site is thoroughly evaluated for contamination, we’ll provide you with resources to take the next step in the site release process. Some of these resources include:

Two workers conducting radiological and chemical characterization test

What we offer

A fundamental aspect of all D&D projects, site characterization provides guidance to determine the best remediation procedures and is a cost-effective method of ensuring your cleanup project meets preliminary regulatory standards.

The site characterization assessment provided by ORAU’s survey team of health physicists is the first step in preparing a robust and accurate decontamination and decommissioning process for your site and employs our proven procedures and methods.

Learn more about D&D

Our Expert

Tim Vitkus

Tim Vitkus, CHP

Senior Scientist

Expertise: Management of complex site investigations, characterizations and evaluations

  • HPS Ask-the-Expert topic editor, decommissioning and radioactive waste disposal
  • Member and contributor, MARSSIM Rev. 2 Ad Hoc Work Group
  • Committee chair, ANSI N13.49 Performance and Documentation of Radiological Surveys
  • Member, Independent Review Team, DOE’s Separation Process Research Unit decommissioning project

Certification: Certified health physicist with the American Board of Health Physics

Contact us

For more information about ORAU's environmental assessment services, contact Sarah Roberts at 865.241.8893 or sarah.roberts@orau.org.

For more information about contracting with ORAU, contact Kathy Rollow at 865.574.4390 or kathy.rollow@orau.org.