Removal of Pre-Formed Asbestos Insulation. A Project of the Manufacturing Technology Program.

Removal of asbestos thermal insulation from Naval vessels has become one of the most critical elements in the ship repair process. Productivity would be greatly increased if a simplified technique could be developed for asbestos removal that would maintain airborne fiber generation below the Permissible Exposure Limit PEL and Navy Medical Surveillance Action Level MSAL. Feasibility of an impregnationentrapment process was first demonstrated in a laboratory environment. A full-scale hardware development and testing program was then undertaken. The impregnation equipment and technique has been developed into a system that is inexpensive to obtain and simple to operate. Navy shipyard workers using this system have successfully removed shipboard asbestos insulation without causing airborne fiber concentration to exceed hazardous levels. There have been no undesirable aftereffects to the environment and no other hazards are created from this technique. The current requirement for air-fed respirators, containments, exhausters, water spray, etc. can be substantially revised to accommodate the reduced fiber concentration levels attainable with this new system. Significant manpower savings are then possible. A nominal value of 280,000 per ship has been calculated, using historic data available at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, and is discussed in this report.