Page 245 - Beyond Decommissioning

226 Beyond Decommissioning

Many quarries continue to be used long after people have ceased the mining. The
Index quarry, midway between Seattle and Leavenworth, which opened in 1904, has
been bought and protected by the local rock climbing community.
The Index granite was very popular in the early part of the 20th century. But even-
tually other stones came into the market, and the quarry closed down in the mid-1930s.
And then the quarry was forgotten until rock climbers discovered it as a great climbing
area. Hundreds of climbing routes were installed over the years. The landowner, as
well as the state parks department, were supportive of the climbers but when support
began uncertain the Washington Climbers Coalition decided to buy the climbing wall
site. Perhaps the most famous ex-quarry is the one shown in the movie Breaking Away.
After the quarry flooded, it became a popular swimming site. When Breaking Away
came out, so many people invaded the quarry that the owners regretted that they had
let the filmmakers there. Access to the quarry is now prohibited.
Portland, CT’s brownstone quarry also flooded, initially when the nearby Connect-
icut River overflowed into 70-m-deep hole. Later, a hurricane pushed water back into
the quarry and closed it permanently. The property had been initially planned for
development—the plan was to cut a channel to the river and open a marina—but then
financial difficulties obliterated the plan. The city of Portland purchased the property,
which was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2000. Currently, the quarry
and its site are open for a range of adventure activities, including snorkeling, mountain
biking, and flying foxes.
Another quarry reused as swimming pool can be found at Tenino, WA. Some water
runs through a pipe above the quarry to form a waterfall into the pool. Just east of the
pool area is a stack of big sandstone blocks with splitting holes visible on the edges.
All stacked up to form a maze and play area (Williams, 2017).

6.5 Research reactors and other small facilities

There are a number of technical publications that address the regulatory, management,
and technological aspects of the decommissioning of large facilities such as nuclear
power plants, reprocessing plants, and large prototype and test reactors. There are,
however, many more users of radioactive substances in medicine, research, and indus-
try, where the facilities are much smaller in size and decommissioning complexity.
Since these facilities generally present a lower radiological risk, the decommissioning
objective should be immediate decontamination and dismantling to the required end
state. However, the prompt decommissioning and recovery of the premises should be
readily conducive to conversion of structures to other functions, with either restricted
or unrestricted use being possible. Such facilities are located at research establish-
ments, biological, and medical departments, universities, medical centers, and
industrial and manufacturing sites. The reader should note that the notion of
“small facility,” though generally related to size and smaller complexity of
decommissioning, is quite subjective. Constructing more housing—if possible reusing
older facilities rather than exploiting virgin lands- is a priority of many Governments.
To foster this approach a recent directive of UK Government allows conversion from