Page 88 - Beyond Decommissioning

The phases of redevelopment 69

selection and appointment of a quality design team. From there, procurement includes
aspects such as detailed planning, construction works, partial demolition, cleanup, and
final tests. While in principle all procurement methods can lead to the desired out-
come, some make it harder if the challenges are not understood or well managed
by the contractor. The traditional lump sum contract is often seen as the best way
of maintaining quality throughout the project until its successful completion. How-
ever, while protecting the interests of the client, lump sum arrangements require large
contingencies to accommodate unknowns or unexpected discoveries (e.g., hidden
contamination); otherwise increases to the contract price will be requested by the con-
tractor as the project is in progress (Office for Design + Architecture South
Australia, 2014).
A project design team needs to be assembled at an early stage of a redevelopment
project, and not after key decisions have already been taken, such as locations of pro-
ject supporting infrastructure, budget limitations and spatial planning. A design team
should include many categories of experts such as architects, heritage consultants,
land and building surveyors, civil and mechanical engineers, environmental scientists,
economists, planning consultants, artists, etc. (Office for Design + Architecture South
Australia, 2014).
Basically, implementation of decommissioning includes the following activities:

l removal of radioactive substances, asbestos and other above-ground remediation
l equipment removal and salvage
l demolition and salvage
l below-ground remediation
l waste removal and disposal
l site grading and restoration: brownfield or greenfield
For nuclear facilities, a number of publications have been issued by the IAEA includ-
ing International Atomic Energy Agency (1999, 2008, 2009).

3.1 Decommissioning to brownfield for repowering
or sale/redevelopment (Raimi, 2017)

Because power plants have access to existing electricity grid and other features such as
water bodies for cooling or natural gas pipelines, plant owners have opted to repower
in many cases, decommissioning older generating units, then constructing new units at
the same site.
After decommissioning, repowering typically requires that a site is remediated to
brownfield status. After decommissioning, major issues of concern for power plant
brownfields include soil and subsoil contamination from leaks of radioactive sub-
stances, petroleum or other liquids, groundwater contamination, and the presence
of asbestos, PCBs, lead, or other regulated materials. If a brownfield property is sold,
liability is transferred to the new owner, providing prospective investors with a strong
incentive to perform a detailed site assessment before the purchase.