Page 237 - Beyond Decommissioning

218 Beyond Decommissioning

the site of three shipyards, and it also had cargo handling and port facilities. About 15,000 worked
in the yards, and there were some 30,000 who worked for the shipyards as their main customers.
However foreign competition was growing, and the oil crisis of 1973 hit hard Gothenburg’s yards.
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Within <10 years all shipbuilding had stopped in NA. The area became derelict, and many of the
remaining buildings were hard to reuse. The city was also hit hard by the closure of the shipyards.
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NA’s yards were an important economic center. When the shipyards closed, many jobs dis-
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appeared across the city. The regeneration of NA, therefore, became a long-term strategic neces-
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sity. NA was transformed into a high-quality mixed-use district at short distance from the city
center, with stylish apartments, high-tech industries, educational facilities (e.g., two university
campuses), and an accessible waterfront. In 2008, already as many people as used to work in
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the shipyards were employed in NA, and when the regeneration is complete, in about 2025, some
estimated 40,000 people will work there (URBED, 2008).

6.4 Contaminated land areas

In the past, many nuclear activities were developed without enough consideration of
environmental issues. Operations took place without appropriate or duly enforced
environmental laws and regulations. In want of good operating practices, contami-
nated land areas have been created. Several contaminated sites also resulted by nuclear
and radiological accidents.
Contaminated sites can ultimately lead to undesired health effects to the local com-
munities. ER aims to reduce the radiation exposure from contamination of land areas or
other contaminated media, such as surface- or groundwater. For many years, the IAEA
has been instrumental in providing countries with detailed information on remediation
strategies and technologies, management options as well as guidance in dealing with
nontechnical factors, for example, communication and stakeholder involvement. There
are many IAEA publications in this field, which also report successful reuse examples:
the following is an incomplete selection of recent publications in this field (IAEA, 2013,
2014a,b, 2015a,b). The reader should note that this book does not address the numerical
criteria for a contaminated site to be safely reused, although they are obviously essential
to the selection of a reuse option.

Risk-Based Land Management
The management of contaminated soils is an essential issue in the redevelopment of brownfield
sites. Risk-Based Land Management (RBLM) is an integral component of brownfield projects eval-
uating the cost of environmental remediation, the perceived or real risk and a wide range of admin-
istrative and social issues. The site approach chosen should also include reuse of clean/
decontaminated materials onsite or offsite; disposal of materials that are unusable or unsuitable
for reuse; and reuse of existing buildings (for which see other sections further). Remediation tech-
niques for contaminated soils have been developed in recent years and some of these techniques
have reached maturity; at many contaminated sites, a mix of remediation techniques is used.
A sustainable approach includes the identification—during the planning phase—of the appropri-
ate techniques to ensure health and safety of the population, protection of the environment, and
minimization of resources. The cost of remediation can be very high. Remediation can result in a