A system and apparatus is provided for the decontamination of river bottoms. The system makes use of a barge, which is passed over the soil that needs to be decontaminated. The barge carries a high intensity laser, such as a 2,000 kW excimer YAG laser. The output of the laser is directed into a plurality of fiber optic cables. These fiber optic cables extend from the laser all the way down to the bottom of the river. The fiber optic cables direct the high intensity laser beams at the bottom of the river. The laser light reacts with the PCBs in the soil and breaks down and dissociates the chemicals into harmless by-products. Additionally, UV light emitters can also be attached to the fiber optic cables, near the river bottom, to assist in the PCB decontamination process.