The Bathroom Cleaner That Cleaned Plutonium

Dounreay was not a kitchen sink. It was a nuclear site in Caithness, on the northern coast of Scotland.

Yet in 2009, a household bathroom cleaner became part of the cleanup at an old experimental chemical plant there.

The plant had been used in the 1980s to recycle plutonium liquor. Years later, crews had to clean and dismantle steel, glass, pipes, vessels, and gloveboxes stained with plutonium.

The normal industrial decontamination fluid worked, but it was slowing the job down. It had to dry, and the old acids in the plant created extra problems.

During a regular toolbox talk, one member of the team suggested trying Cillit Bang. The idea came from a TV advert where the cleaner stripped grime from a coin.

Managers did not just start spraying it around. They ordered tests on the 1.99 cleaner, and the tests showed it was effective.

The useful chemistry was not magic. Cillit Bang's grime and lime formulas included acids such as sulfamic acid and phosphoric acid, a chemical also used in metal cleaning.

The cleaner became part of a 9 million pound project to clean out and demolish the plant. Another household product, Mr Muscle glass cleaner, was used on glass columns moved to a nearby decontamination unit.

Sellafield in Cumbria was among the sites that contacted Dounreay to learn more. Sometimes the nuclear answer was sitting in the cleaning aisle.