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Current Issues in Combating Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Threats to Empower Sustainability: A Systematic Review
Summary
This systematic review of 156 publications found that innovations for combating chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats primarily support sustainability goals related to health, well-being, and industry infrastructure. The study identified key research clusters in detection technologies, decontamination methods, and protective equipment. The review's focus on environmental contaminant detection and remediation has indirect relevance to emerging microplastic monitoring approaches.
Combating chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats with novel solutions reduces disasters and accident risks and, at the same time, aids sustainability. This research aims to identify the innovations in combating CBRN threats and verify how they fall within the scope of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The study relies on mixed-method research, including bibliometrics and text-mining used to identify clusters, most frequent words, and codes. The material for the research was 156 publications from the Scopus database from 2017 to April 2022. From the analytical process, textual data served as the indicators of the innovations’ directions driven by SDGs. The research results indicated that innovations for combating CBRN threats support sustainability mainly in health and environmental areas, specifically in: SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being; SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation; SDG 14: Life Below Water; SDG 15: Life On Land. The research contributes to the landscape of innovations serving sustainable development. Further studies may focus on narrower perspectives, such as environmental protection and health innovations. There can also be concerns about the dark side of CBRN innovations and technologies of dual use.
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