Page 127 - Beyond Decommissioning

108 Beyond Decommissioning

In either greenfield or brownfield definitions, the physical conditions of the end
state remain often unspecified. This has resulted in expensive litigation cases and
court rulings to decide on the proper interpretation of contractual clauses.
In the United States and in other countries the site reuse options were rarely iden-
tified in planning for decommissioning of older plants. Most NPPs were finally shut-
down before the expiration of their operating license. Consideration of the reuse of
their sites had not been addressed at the beginning of decommissioning, and any reuse
planning came up only in the course of decommissioning. Also as decommissioning
pre-funding was still under development for older NPPs, final end states could not be
clearly identified. In some decommissioning projects the funding was only enough to
achieve license termination, with no plans for site remediation and redevelopment. In
other projects the value of the site property proved to be an unrealized asset and the
scope of the remediation effort changed in the course of decommissioning
(LaGuardia, 2012). Table 5.1 compares advantages and drawbacks for the three strat-
egies introduced earlier.

Table 5.1 Factors for consideration of three alternative decommissioning strategies
Unrestricted Unrestricted
release with full release without
Relevant demolition of full demolition of
factors structures structures Restricted release
Safety With the full With the full In this option there is
removal of facility removal of concern for potential
structures, the radioactivity to exposure to the public.
safety concerns of clearance criteria The owner/operator
potential the safety concerns must demonstrate the
radiological of potential public is protected from
exposure are radiological radioactivity from all
eliminated. There exposure are reasonable pathways as
are no physical eliminated. The part of the new or
structures that owner must prove modified license. If
could collapse and that remaining there are physical
injure anybody structures could structures remaining, it
not collapse and should be proven that
injure anybody. there is no risk of
Onsite structures structural collapse or of
must be open to radioactive release.
ingress and egress, Onsite structures must
and be free of fire be open to ingress and
or other physical egress, and be free of
hazards. fire or other physical
Hazardous or toxic hazards. Hazardous or
materials must be toxic materials must be
taken away or taken away or
remediated to a remediated to a safe
safe state state