# A New Radiological Risk Containment Procedure in Potentially Contaminated Areas
## 1 Introduction  
The term \"orphan sources\" typically refers to radioactive sources that were never subject to regulatory control; sources that were subject to regulatory control but, after that, have been abandoned, lost or misplaced; sources that were stolen or removed without proper authorization [1, 2]. Orphan radioactive sources or other radioactive materials are sometimes unintentionally collected as scrap metal destined for recycling [3, 4]. Over the past decades, there have been several accidents involving such materials. These accidents exposed individuals to radiation and lead to harmful environmental, social and economic impacts [5, 6, 7].  
The potentialities of an automatic radiometric control to check for any anomaly, with the help of radiometric portals installed in the plants dedicated to the treatment of hazardous wastes, are well known and widely reported in the literature [8, 9, 10].  
From a general point of view, the radiometric characterization of a contaminated site is a difficult topic to deal with. In fact, not only the scenarios that can be imagined are innumerable, but the purposes for which such a characterization must be carried out can decisively influence the approach [11]. It is therefore very important, before developing a possible work plan for the characterization of a contaminated site, to clarify the finalaim of the investigation [12], in view of an optimal use of available resources, both human and instrumental [13]. On one hand, the purpose can be, for instance, to verify if a site is actually contaminated by radioactive substances as a consequence of a deliberate and illegal disposal. On the other hand, if the sources of contamination are completely known, the main effort will be directed towards the evaluation, as accurate as possible, of the spatial and temporal characteristics of the distribution of the contamination itself, in order to achieve a dosimetric evaluation able to give an estimation of the radiological risk [14]. Apart from these two extreme conditions, a whole series of intermediate situations can be hypothesized.  
In this study, an innovative radiological risk containment procedure in the environmental field is described. It consists of a series of progressive operations, well known in the context of nuclear power plants and wastes treatment, but never carried out before all together for outdoor activities. This procedure, called RADREM--RADiometric REMediation--is the result of a prevention activity for workers and the population, implemented in industrial sites or abandoned areas where the type and nature of any contamination is uncertain. Its application, as a case study, in an industrial area of about 10 hectares, located in the Vibo Valentia province, into the Calabrian territory, southern Italy [15], led to the discovery of eight \({}^{226}\)Ra orphan sources buried under the road surface. It is important to emphasize that, when we talk about the contamination of a site, we usually refer to a chemical contamination, without taking into consideration any radioactive one. Therefore, the systematic application of this procedure allows to pay attention to an aspect that is usually overlooked but that could considerably increase the health risk of the workers and the population.