POWER October 2020 - 39

PLANT DECOMMISSIONING
ment remediation companies, real estate
development companies, machine
and equipment liquidation companies,
and more. That's a lot of work, and
there are a lot of different profit centers
that are all looking to take a cut. With
a firm like ELT, that's all done in-house,
and therefore, Jostes said his company
can put forth better economic terms
that can get the project completed
faster. " We think we expedite the development
of these types of facilities by
about 24 months, " he said.
" Evaluate your internal capabilities to
manage this work. The risk is different
than operating a plant, or even an onsite
capital project, so make sure you have a
team-both internal and the combination
of external resources-that can manage
this type of project and these types of
risks, " PowerAdvocate's Carroll said.
Keeping Decommissioning
Costs Down
If an owner chooses to self-perform, it
must assemble a skilled team of people
to do the job right. " The internal expertise
that you need includes staff with good
project management experience, " Kopp
said. " This-coupled with bringing in
outside assistance where needed-will
allow the team to plan for all tasks anticipated.
The number one thing is planning
and data gathering early, making sure
that you've got all the appropriate data
for potential contractors. Detailed information
will provide the potential demolition
contractors with information to get
the tightest bids you can possibly get. "
" Transparency is one of the best
practices for keeping an eye on both
schedule and costs, and robust data
management enables transparency, "
explained Carroll. " By employing data
strategies that drive transparency into
granular, real-time, and market-based
costs, project managers can take proactive
steps to control estimates as they
become actuals, address schedule issues,
and track market factors that may
be escalating overall project costs. "
It's hard to overemphasize the importance
of speed, because time really
is money. While projects must
be completed carefully and no one
should compromise on safety, performing
work efficiently, using qualified
contractors, can save time and
reduce costs. " When people try to do
these projects piecemeal, and they try
to break them out, it results in a lot
of inefficiencies and potentially a lot of
higher costs, " said Kopp.
October 2020 | POWER
Decommissioning Experience Could Benefit
Nuclear Plant Owners
In the 1940s, the Oak Ridge Gaseous
Diffusion Plant was built in unprecedented
secrecy as part of the Manhattan
Project. Its purpose was to provide
enriched uranium for the world's first
atomic bomb, and it expanded operations
during the Cold War, producing
enriched uranium for defense and commercial
purposes.
Uranium enrichment operations were
halted at the site in 1985, and the plant
was officially closed in 1987. During the
next decade, as cleanup became the
main focus at the site, it was renamed
East Tennessee Technology Park (ETTP)
to reflect the U.S. Department of Energy's
(DOE's) ambition of transforming it
into a multi-use industrial park. Recent
efforts have also focused on establishing
the site as a national park and conservation
area. The DOE's goal is to
complete the cleanup this year, marking
the first time an entire enrichment complex
has been cleaned and demolished.
UCOR, an Amentum-led
partnership
with Jacobs, has been the prime
cleanup contractor for ETTP since 2011.
Kenneth Rueter, president and CEO of
UCOR, suggested the lessons learned
at ETTP are also important for the
power industry. " In many ways, UCOR
has provided a model for commercial
nuclear plant decommissioning in an
even more hazardous environment, "
he told POWER.
Cleanup at ETTP included the demolition
of five massive uranium enrichment
buildings, as well as hundreds of
For example, one owner believed some
plant equipment had value for reuse on
the secondary market that was higher
than scrap value, so they chose to spend
time advertising, waiting for bids to come
in, reviewing options, and selecting winners.
Then, time had to be given for the
buyer to deploy a crew to the site to remove
the equipment. The work was carried
out with little concern for the as-left
condition because, after all, the site was
being demolished, but the end result was
more difficulty for the demolition company,
driving up its costs. In the end, scrapping
the equipment would have been the
more cost-effective option.
In another case, an owner chose to
extend a project over a five-year period,
rather than completing it straight
through from beginning to end. The
reasoning was that this would break up
the cost over a longer time period. However,
it also meant mobilizing and demowww.powermag.com
facilities
that supported research and
operations at the site. The largest of
these facilities was the K-25 Building, a
U-shaped, mile-long building that was
the largest building in the world when
it was constructed.
Since large-scale cleanup operations
began nearly 15 years ago, more
than 13 million square feet of facilities
have been demolished. Many of these
facilities were contaminated and in dilapidated
condition. Some of the site
operations also contaminated underlying
soil, which forced cleanup crews
to remove approximately 30,000 truckloads
of soil.
To date, almost 1,300 acres have
been transferred for economic development
with another 600 slated for
transfer in the years ahead. More than
3,000 acres have been placed in a conservation
easement for recreational
use, and another 100 acres have been
designated for historic preservation.
" Our ability to safely decommission
nuclear facilities and dispose of waste
without harm to the public or environment
is directly related to the future of
nuclear power generation in the United
States and across the world. That is because
the public and lawmakers need
to have confidence that our industry
has the ability to do that, " Rueter said.
Learn more about the project, and
the challenges UCOR faced, online at
powermag.com (see " The POWER Interview:
Cleaning Up a Radiologically
Contaminated Site " ).
bilizing crews each year, which was a
significant cost. Meanwhile, personnel
sometimes changed and even those
that didn't had to get reacquainted with
the site and the then-current status before
work could resume in earnest. The
net result was a greatly increased overall
cost for the project.
" Our view is that managing the data
that is generated over the course of
the project-from the Class 5 estimate
[an early-stage estimate generally
prepared based on very limited
information] through the final project
filing-will facilitate more timely and
impactful decisions. Without accurate
data, project planning and control software
will fail to deliver useful insights
for project managers. Priority one is
setting a strong data foundation for
the project, " said Carroll. ■
-Aaron Larson is POWER's
executive editor.
39
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POWER October 2020

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