Decommissioning, closure

The JACADS closure activities will involve the dismantling and destruction of that portion of the facility that cannot be decontaminated to meet the 5R cleanliness standard. An area decommissioning matrix delineates the areas that will be decontaminated and dismantled, decontaminated and abandoned in place, or solely abandoned in place (U.S. Army, 2000c). The remaining systems, structures, and components (SSCs) that are left in place must meet the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) criteria for decontamination as well as the Army standard of 5R. Areas that were kept free of any agent or hazardous materials will be sampled to demonstrate their cleanliness in accordance with the final closure sampling and analysis plan. 

Although the Army anticipates procuring equipment, systems, and tools that are unique to closure operations, closure planning documents made available to the committee addressed this issue in a cursory way (U.S. Army, 2000c). Section 3.3 of the decommissioning plan simply states a requirement for vendor contracts and engineering guidance. WDC said, however, that it has a very extensive and sophisticated company procurement manual (O Shea, 2000). Because of the importance of materiel procurement, the Army should insist on full disclosure of the contractor process, and all interested parties must understand and... 

Closure costs for existing plants incurred at a site are again determined in two steps. Plant closure costs are calculated in equation (3.14) which, in combination with the non-negativity constraint (3.57), ensures that no negative closure costs are calculated. Closure costs are allocated to the time period during which the capacity is decommissioned. To account for lead times in closure decisions no plant closures can occur in the first period of the planning horizon. Equation (3.15) aggregates the closure costs to the site level. 

The remaining 273 potentially relevant radionuclides are subjected to a methodology which considers UK waste streams from commercial reactor fuel and decommissioning waste from final site clearance (SC), in addition to UK safety relevant situations for transport, repository operations and post-closure safety cases. This eliminates 161... 

Given the inherent complexity of the chemical demihtarization task at the assembled weapons stockpile sites, it is almost certain that new problems will continue to arise, particularly from aging and deteriorating weapons and the challenges of demihtarization plant closure and decommissioning. There will be future chemical events, and serious consequences to both plant personnel and surrounding communities cannot be ruled out. This chapter focuses on prudent ways to reduce their number and to minimize their consequences. 

Acknowledging the readiness of the Union to provide adequate additional Community assistance to the efforts by Lithuania to decommission the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant and highlighting this expression of solidarity, Lithuania commits to the closure of Unit 1 of the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant before 2005 and of Unit 2 of this plant by 31 December 2009 at the latest and to the subsequent decommissioning of these units. (Eur-Lex, 2003a)... 

Similarly, plant personnel are highly trained and experienced in the particular chemical demilitarization operations, which makes it impractical to mothball or decommission a facility until after its mission is completed satisfactorily. Even at that point, some of the facility equipment and well-trained personnel will still be needed for closure activities to clean and remove all contaminated parts of the facility. Delays in processing not only increase program costs but also prolong the risk to the public of exposure to the aging stockpile. 

As noted previously, closure operations of the four incineration facilities start at least four to six years following the publication of this report and continue for an additional two to three years. Steps are needed to ensnre that the operational life of certain key eqnipment extends through the decommissioning and closnre of the facilities. 

The operator should be required to record all activities, results and considerations important to safety in the siting, design, constraction, commissioning, operation and decommissioning or closure of the facility. 

The shutdown of the EBR-II was dictated without an associated plarming phase that would have provided a smooth transition to shutdown. Argonne National Laboratory and the U.S. Department of Energy arrived at a logical plan and sequence for closure activities. The decommissioning activities as described herein fall into in three distinct phases. 

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