Page 130 - Beyond Decommissioning

Relevant factors for redevelopment 111

(more conservative) DCGL value of the two scenarios for each radionuclide identified
at NFS site. These values are less restrictive than the calculated DCGLs for the
default residential farmer scenario. At the Fansteel site, the licensee proposed an
industrial land-use scenario for dose estimation purposes. The site is bounded on
the north by the Port of Muskogee and industrial operations on the east by the Arkan-
sas River, on the south by US Highway 62, and on the west by the Muskogee Turnpike.
In addition, there is a coal-fired power plant across the Arkansas River. The NRC staff
confirmed future development plans in the areas surrounding the site, including
planned expansion of the Port of Muskogee onto the land currently owned by FMRI,
and reviewed the proposed scenario and dose analysis. The NRC concluded that the
industrial land-use scenario was appropriate for dose calculations.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (2006) and MONDAQ (2006)

In the nonnuclear domain, one legislative approach to restricted release was pro-
mulgated in the State of Connecticut (CT), United States. An environmental land use
restriction (ELUR) is an easement granted to CT’s Department of Energy and Envi-
ronmental Protection by the property owner. The objective of an ELUR is to minimize
the risk of human exposure to contaminants and environmental hazards by prohibiting
specific uses or activities at a property. An ELUR is a tool that allows the remedial for
a property to be dependent on the exposure risk associated with its use and does not
require full removal of contaminants. Generally, when an ELUR is used, the amount
of active remediation (e.g., excavation) is limited, and the residual contamination is
managed through control of activities on or uses of the site. Therefore, using an ELUR
may save money and time spent actively remediating the site. An ELUR is recorded on
the land records. Therefore, ELUR “runs with the land,” meaning all present and
future owners must comply with its terms, including any operation and maintenance
requirements (CT, 2017).
The evolution of UK Government’s decommissioning policy (through the Nuclear
Decommissioning Authority, NDA, see further) exemplifies the ongoing shift from
greenfield to brownfield as the decommissioning objective. At the core of the current
policy is the government’s view that there could, in the future, be more users of
decommissioned than previously assumed, and that restoration to unrestricted release
will not always be the best practicable environmental option (BPEO, see Glossary).
This could be the case for high land value sites located within commuting distance
from London, such as Harwell or Winfrith, where paradoxically there is a strong eco-
nomic case for full cleanup anyway. But land-use arguments are less significant for
other nuclear sites in the United Kingdom: it is hard to see remote sites such as
Sellafield or Dounreay becoming (nonnuclear) economic centers of regional or
nationwide interest. On the other hand, experience has already shown a strong interest
by major NPP organizations to redevelop existing NPP sites under decommissioning
for new NPP builds: this assumes that old sites will remain brownfields for a long time
before possibly moving to a greenfield status in the long run. It is also clear by now
that heavily contaminated sites like Sellafield are unlikely to be ever released for
unrestricted use (at least, not at a reasonable cost): their fate as brownfields could
eventually be consolidated by new nuclear builds (Nuclear Engineering
International, 2004).