Affordable Cleanup? Opportunities for Cost Reduction in the Decontamination and Decommissioning of the Nation's Uranium Enrichment Facilities (1996) / Chapter Skim
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6 OPPORTUNITIES FOR D&D COST REDUCTION
6 OPPORTUNITIES FOR D&D COST REDUCTION
Pages 127-156
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From page 127... ...
GDPs (Chapter 41.i To better compare potential cost reductions relative to the Ebasco estimate, the principal cost reduction opportunities the committee identified were grouped according to the four cost categories used by Ebasco, plus a fifth, "cost estimate assumptions:" program integration radioactive and hazardous waste management; D&D; support facilities; and cost estimate assumptions. ~ The scaled value of $1.11 billion assumes recycling of 95 percent of the materials recovered from D&D, whereas the $2.03 billion assumes no recycling (i.e., all material buried as low-level radioactive waste)
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From page 128... ...
PROGRAM INTEGRATION Ebasco defined program integration as including management, permitting, engineering, operations staff, health and safety, industrial safety, quality assurance and control, procurement, waste management, and analytical services. Ebasco estimated these costs at $2.57 billion for the three-plant complex, or 21.6 percent of total D&D cost before adding contractor markups, construction management fees, and the operations contractor effort (DOE, 1991a)
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129 Cat ._ I_ ._ o PI o o ._ Cat o ~0 m IS Cat a A: Cat o Pa S ;` o Cat o v 2 ' 3L , ~2 ~ ~ o .
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From page 130... ...
130 ._ g _' Cq ._ ._ o c o o ._ A_ Cal U
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From page 131... ...
The TEG cost estimate was based on using a DOC, but the size of the postulated DOC organization appears very large relative to the size of the craft labor force performing the work (Guasco, 19941. For example, for the Oak Ridge GDP, the "management staff level" assumed during D&D operations was 1,430 people, compared with the estimated craft labor peak of 4,307 people.2 There are 30 area superintendents in the K-33 building alone.
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From page 132... ...
The Capenhurst experience demonstrated how a major D&D project can be executed with a relatively small health physics staff. Considering the repetitive nature of the work, it appears to the committee that once a substantial D&D experience base is in place and the procedures for contamination control and worker exposure have been demonstrated successfully, the health physics and radiation control staffs could be reduced substantially.
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From page 133... ...
. The two most important opportunities for reducing waste management costs are reducing the quantity of wastes to be disposed and designing the waste management approach to minimize the total cost of waste certification, packaging, transportation, and disposal.
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From page 134... ...
The Ebasco cost estimate assumes that approximately one-third of the Paducah and Portsmouth wastes will be transported to the Oak Ridge Decontamination Facility for processing and returned after processing to the originating sites for final disposal. Providing on-site
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If wastes arising from the D&D of the GDPs are not recycled because of regulatory constraints or public opposition, the quantity of material requiring disposal will be very large, so that any increase in unit disposal cost will have a major impact on total D&D cost. The risk posed by increasing disposal costs can be reduced substantially by volume reduction, waste minimization, and reuse of decontaminated materials within DOE or by sale to the commercial market if it proves a feasible alternative.
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From page 136... ...
It also seems advantageous to explore approaches to convert asbestos to a nonhazardous waste form, and reduce its volume, to achieve savings in disposal costs. DECONTAMINATION AND DECOMMISSIONING Technology Decontamination Process The committee believes that important parts of the decontamination technology adopted in the Ebasco study were unnecessarily complex and expensive.
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From page 137... ...
Recycling, either within the DOE complex (for storage or shipping containers for fuel or waste) or to the commercial market, would avoid disposal costs and the use of virgin ores.
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FIGURE 6-1 Break-even metal recycling value versus total waste disposal costs.
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From page 139... ...
Although it seems to the committee that these operations might realize significant cost savings from the applications of robotics and automation, the cost reduction is uncertain, and tradeoff studies are required to confirm the economic feasibility of the various proposed activities. Certain surveillance and maintenance activities may benefit from the use of mobile robot systems for routine, repetitive operations.
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From page 140... ...
The individual activities and corresponding estimated person hours can be analyzed as discussed below. Preparation of Work Permits.
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See discussion on preparation of work permit in this chapter. b Not available.
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From page 142... ...
The prejob survey by health physics and the issuance of separate radiation work permits for each converter removal are not needed because the whole facility will have been characterized prior to beginning the removal activities. A general radiation work permit will have been issued for the removal of all process equipment, or at least to a large number of units in a given building, not just a single unit.
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From page 143... ...
. Considering the potential reductions in estunated activity duration discussed above, the total elapsed time for a converter removal during D&D should take about ~ hours, compared with the 48 hours needed during operations; and the cumulative person hours should be about 36, rather than the 192 person hours required for the effort in an operational plant.
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From page 144... ...
The applicable regulations need to be considered in determining the most cost-effective design concept. The gaseous decontamination process, which is expensive and time consuming, should be replaced by aqueous decontamination in the low-assay decontamination facility.
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From page 145... ...
Multiple Low-Assay Decontamination Facilities versus a Single Shared Facility The shipment of contaminated equipment and materials from Portsmouth and Paducah to the Oak Ridge GDP and the return of associated wastes are expensive and likely to foster political opposition. Providing a separate low-assay decontamination facility at each site may prove to be a less expensive alternative.
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From page 146... ...
While the cost savings cannot be quantified without a detailed review of existing site procedures and practices and without definition of the overall D&D process to be used, the savings should be substantial. Safeguards, Security, and CIassiffcation The D&D of the gaseous diffusion plants will require the handling of special nuclear material.
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From page 147... ...
If the technology is not declassified by the start of decommissioning, D&D workers handling classified components will require "it" clearances. Workers handling special nuclear material will require "Q" clearances, for example, in the K-25 building and parts of the K-27 building at the Oak Ridge GDP (Quiet, 19951.
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From page 148... ...
Can the high-assay decontamination facility be eliminated and special nuclear material requirements still be met? Criticality Prevention There are a variety of ways to prevent nuclear criticality during deposit removal and decontamination operations.
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From page 149... ...
A DOE cost review team examined 12 specific surveillance and maintenance issues at the Oak Ridge GDP site to identify potential cost reductions (DOE, 19951. The team concluded that there are numerous opportunities for cost reduction.
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From page 150... ...
Because the direct cost for construction and operation of new facilities for D&D assumed in the cost estimates alone is on the order of $3.5 billion, the simplification of decontamination processes and use of aqueous decontamination provide a large potential opportunity for cost reduction, especially considering that the D&D cost for the Capenhurst aqueous decontamination facility in the United Kingdom was on the order of $10 million. It also seems that many fewer people could accomplish the D&D by simplifying the management and organization of the effort; reevaluating labor requirements for what, in many instances, are demolition and Reconstruction activities; automating some key processes; and reassessing program integration efforts.
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From page 151... ...
Investigating alternative approaches to eliminate unnecessary activities and perform essential activities much more efficiently should result in significant cost reductions.
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From page 152... ...
6. The high-assay decontamination facility should be eliminated and the low-assay decontamination facility greatly simplified to focus primarily on aqueous decontamination.
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12. Person hours and material costs for removal and decontamination of stage components should be reduced by eliminating those activities associated with retaining the ability to reinstall the equipment.
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P 42 in the Proceedings of the Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Session of the American Nuclear Society Fuel Cycle and Waste Management Conference held June 7, 1987 in Dallas, Texas.
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From page 155... ...
1994. Gaseous Diffusion Plants Decontamination and Decommissioning Assessment Review Papers (predecisional draft)
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From page 156... ...
Snedaker, Jr., Foster Wheeler Corporation, to James Zucchetto, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., July 14, 1995.
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