Abstract: Standby gas treatment system for removal of radioactive release from a nuclear containment structure not only during normal purge operations but also in the event of a design basis accident. Ventiduct trains arranged in parallel so that one is redundant are each operative to extract dust in excess of 0.3 microns and adsorb radioactive iodine and compounds thereof at 99.9% plus efficiency. A rechargeable gasketless charcoal filter in each train can be filled or emptied without removing the filter enclosures per se. Laminar flow filter beds entirely encapsulate the gas stream to provide low gas velocity and even distribution across the charcoal cage without channeling, thereby securing long residence time.