About company, April 2010

Company profile

The company Decomkov Praha s.r.o. deals with research, development and grant consultancy service. Our aim is to connect companies which are interested in innovation of their products and services to institutions dealing with research and development, which are together able to provide the development needed. Once we and the partners define the aim of research, we formulate the project and find an appropriate source of financing within public grants agencies. In addition to that we also provide our clients with administrative assistance during the project realization in order to enable them to focus on development only. Our partners are thus not bothered with administrative work, which is requested by the public, usually state, grant authorities.

We act also as co-researcher in some projects of research, development and innovation. In that case our specialists become active members of specialised research teams. In this way we provide our partners not only with administrative assistance but also with expertness and experience which we are equipped with in the respective field. This situation occurs mainly during realization of projects concerning natural sciences such as chemistry, biochemistry, pharmacy, nuclear physics and protection against ionising radiation (radioactivity) and other hazardous materials.

History

Radioactive materials and radiation protection

The company Decomkov s.r.o. was established on March 31st, 1999. At that time all over Europe integration processes were in progress which later lead to enlargement of European Union and other institutions. The idea of free movement of goods and services drew attention to some problems. Unwanted transport of radioactive materials (illicit trafficking) was one of them. It was mainly caused by lost radioactive sources, which were (and still are) occasionally found in scrap iron. By melting such iron, radioactive steel is produced which is then traded on in European region. Such problems with lost radioactive materials significantly influenced activity of the company Decomkov. Let’s mention the project “NOKR Centre” or co-ordination of the International conference of authorities of the Visegrad 4 Countries about common protection of borders against illegal transport of radioactive materials in 2003. At that time, the company Decomkov become a member of the forming net of companies specialised in searching and disposal of radioactive materials in waste, scrap iron etc. This net was created under supervision of State Office for Nuclear Safety.

At the same time the company Decomkov became a distributor of apparatuses and products of the company S.E.A. GmbH and became a member of Czech nuclear forum as well. A special launderette of contaminated clothes in Nuclear power plant Temelín was also operated by Decomkov.

CBRN Terrorism

company Decomkov intensified work on on-going projects and in 2003-2005 collaborated with the company VF a.s. on a project called “Decontamination methods, means and agents”. Imitants of contamination, designed for Fire Rescue Service for training of detection and decontamination of dangerous substances, and decontamination agent called Hvězda (Star) were outcomes of that project. The very beginning of the antidotal agents development was realised at the same time, that means development of drugs used for treatment of people poisoned during nerve agent attacks.

At that time specialized chemical and microbiological laboratories of the company Decomkov were established in Hradec Kralové city and cooperation with the department of Toxicology of Military Health Sciences Faculty of University of Defence became more intensive.

Decontamination, disinfection and sanitisation

The experience from previous periods as well as our own laboratory facilities enabled pursuing of projects focused on technologies applicable in civilian practice. The project “ Research of polyvalent agent with sporicidal, antiparazital and fungicidal effect ” was aimed at development of new disinfection agents that are also able to eliminate spores of dangerous microbes including Bacillus anthracis (so called anthrax) and germs of parasites of farm animals. The conception of these agents comes from the previously developed Hvězda agent. Similarly, the outcome of the project “ Oil substances liquidation after solid surfaces contamination by means of foams ” is technology for removal of oil slicks from surfaces that were contaminated during accidents or common industrial activities. The technology is based on action of a foaming preparation Dekorol which creates an emulgate. A part of the technology is also a procedure of extraction (suction) of the emulgate and its adjustment for disposal by common procedures according valid law. Resumption of radioactivity materials research was represented by the project “Development and verification of technology for decontamination of natural-radionuclides-contaminated metallic materials”. The company Decomkov together with its partners successfully solved the problem of decontamination of iron metals discarded from uranium mining. The contaminated scrap iron cannot be used as secondary raw material and thus must be watched (guarded) till its disposal. The benefit of the project lies in the clean-up (decontamination) of this dangerous scrap iron, thus expenses on its guarding are eliminated and the risk of thefts is also minimized and finally the all-society risk of uncontrolled contamination of newly melted iron decreases.

Today

The company Decomkov Praha s.r.o. gradually passes the results of its research and development on its partners for commercial implementation. The development and the production of antidotes against nerve agents were transferred onto newly established company – ChemProtect, a.s., that Decomkov intensively cooperates with. The laboratory activities were assigned to a cooperating company VAKOS XT a.s. in order us to concentrate more effectively to research activities. Thus Decomkov concentrates mainly on leading and administration of research-developmental projects, looking for new subjects of innovative business and consulting service. However, we still carry out our own research as can be seen on our project “Multi-purpose decontamination agent for the warfare super-toxic agent decontamination and for disinfection of biological species of high biohazard, including its applicator”. The aim of this project is to implement such modifications of current decontamination agents (e.g. Hvězda – Star) which would enable their packing into First aid portable applicators for members of chemical forces in cases of their contamination (stain) with dangerous substances.