Page 78 - Beyond Decommissioning

Early planning, preparatory steps, 3

crucial decisions, implementation,
and beyond: the phases of

redevelopment

Long-range planning does not deal with future decisions, but with the future of
present decisions.
Peter Drucker (1909–2005)

For nuclear facilities, safety guidance on the decommissioning planning process is
given in International Atomic Energy Agency (2014). Although safety driven, this
guidance can also be viewed in terms of post-decommissioning redevelopment. As
said elsewhere in this book, redevelopment should be viewed as an (ideally) seamless
continuation and part of decommissioning.
Especially, the concept of early planning fully applies to the redevelopment pro-
cess. A few relevant statements from International Atomic Energy Agency (2014)
are quoted here as follows. Just add “and redevelopment” to “decommissioning” to
extend them to our subject.

“Requirement 10: Planning for decommissioning. The licensee shall prepare a
decommissioning plan and shall maintain it throughout the lifetime of the facility,
in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory body, in order to show that
decommissioning can be accomplished safely to meet the defined end state.” For
our purposes, this statement might be completed by adding “and redevelopment” next
to “decommissioning,” and “cost-effectively” next to “safely.” As explained at length
in this book, cost-effectiveness and safety are the two driving factors towards
redevelopment.

“7.1. The regulatory body shall ensure that the licensee takes decommissioning into
account in the siting, design, construction, commissioning and operation of the facil-
ity, by means which include features to facilitate decommissioning, the maintenance
of records of the facility, and consideration of physical and procedural methods to
limit contamination and/or activation.” This statement is fully applicable to redevel-
opment. Environmental contamination will be a serious hindrance to both
decommissioning and site redevelopment.

“7.2. At the siting stage, a background survey of the site, including the obtaining of
information on radiological conditions, shall be performed prior to the construction
of a new facility, and the baseline data shall be updated prior to its commissioning
…”. This statement should be expanded with a view to redevelopment. The
Beyond Decommissioning. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-102790-5.00003-8
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