Page 95 - Beyond Decommissioning

76 Beyond Decommissioning

New thinking needs to be applied to decommissioning strategies to allow for preser-
vation opportunities where possible. Decommissioning and preservation or reuse
should be combined to allow more flexibility at decommissioning sites.
The traditional approach to decommissioning delineates a linear process in the life-
cycle of a nuclear facility, namely from siting and construction, through operation and
eventually decommissioning and site release. Within this vision, decommissioning is
the end of the industrial project. Instead, redevelopment delineates a circular lifecycle
process, whereby redevelopment marks the beginning of a new industrial project
(Fig. 4.1).
Actually the debate between linear and circular economy is nothing new. The linear
economy of “take, make, and dispose” implies that resources are getting extracted, and
products are manufactured and then discarded after use. Therefore, the resource deple-
tion is not the only problem, but the disposed products also need to be accommodated,
which can cause negative effects. By moving from a linear economy to a circular
economy many problems are mitigated or they even disappear. Within circular econ-
omy no waste is ideally sent for disposal, but the waste becomes a new resource
˚
(Akerman, 2016). The equivalence with building/site redevelopment instead of aban-
donment and disposal is too obvious to require elaboration.
It would be noteworthy to have a look at the earliest US classification of
decommissioning strategies (US AEC, 1974). Together with mothballing (later called
SAFSTOR), entombment (which kept the name, ENTOMB, even in later classifica-
tions) and removal of radioactive components and dismantling (later named DECON),
the old Regulatory Guide had a fourth category: conversion to a new nuclear system or
a fossil fuel system. The reference reads: “This alternative, which applies only to
nuclear power plants, utilizes the existing turbine system with a new steam supply
system. The original nuclear steam supply system should be separated from the elec-
tric generating system and disposed of in accordance with one of the previous three
retirement alternatives.” Incidentally, this was the strategy pursued for Fort St Vrain
NPP, sec. 6.2.1.2. In a broad sense, this definition anticipated that the conversion of a

Siting Construction Operation Shut down

Decommissioning,
Redevelopment
remediation

Site decline,
loss of interest

Fig. 4.1 The circular lifecycle process.