Decommissioning Option / BAT Studies

Decision Analysis and Options Studies

GSL is a world leader in the conduct of optioneering studies, including Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO), as well as public and stakeholder consultation exercises.  Our experience includes both the preparation of documentation to support optioneering conferences, development of optioneering and decision analysis methodologies, and meeting organisation, facilitation and reporting.

For example, GSL staff have supported Dounreay in the conduct of BPEO studies for LLW management, the shaft end-state, the treatment of active solvents and oils, the management of radioactive particles in the environment around Dounreay, Prototype Fast Reactor raffinates, and the site end state, amongst others, including facilitation, conduct and consultation of the studies.  We have also undertaken BPEO assessments for decommissioning of Windscale Pile 1 and Pile 2, and for development of a site-wide Integrated Waste Strategy (IWS) at the Windscale site.

We have worked with British Nuclear Group Sellafield Limited (BNGSL) on a Baseline BPEO study for remediation of the Legacy Ponds and Legacy Silos (LP&LS) facilities, a BPEO study for treatment of wastes from the Magnox Wet Silo, a BPEO study for the Sellafield Legacy Pond Solids treatment, and a BPEO study for development of an IWS for the Sellafield site.  We have undertaken a BPEO study for the management of spent ion exchange resins at the Sizewell B power station.  We have also undertaken a multi-criteria options study for the complete removal and management of the boilers at the Trawsfynydd Decommissioning Site in which we developed the optioneering methodology specifically for this project.

GSL has experience using industry-standard software to support options analysis, such as the HiView and OnBalance™ packages, and we have developed our own purpose-built software for transparent presentation of BPEO studies and sensitivity analyses.

Radioactive waste disposals and discharges must be authorised by the UK Environment Agencies’ who require a demonstration that available waste management options have been considered and the BPEO identified, and that Best Practicable Means (BPM) are being used to minimise the impact of any discharges / disposals.  All of the BPEO studies GSL has conducted have been consistent with or based on procedures documented by the Environment Agencies.  We are fully conversant with Environment Agency and industry guidance on the conduct of BPEO studies, and have been a lead contributor in the UK to the development of BPEO methodology.

Indeed representatives of the regulators participated (as Observers) in BPEO workshops that we organised and facilitated concerning waste management at Windscale and Sellafield.  Find more information here: GSL Optioneering Services

Best Available Technique (BAT) / Best Practicable Means (BPM) Analysis

We have undertaken and support BAT and BPM studies for decommissioning and waste management projects across the UK.  As with our work on BPEO analysis, all of the BAT/BPM studies GSL has conducted have been consistent with or based on procedures documented by the Environment Agencies.  We are fully conversant with Environment Agency and industry guidance on the conduct of such studies.

Cost Studies

GSL has carried out many different types of cost study for a variety of international clients.  These have included bottom-up and top-down cost estimation of storage and disposal lifecycle costs, development of cost norms for decommissioning and waste management activities, and reviews of cost estimating methodologies developed by national waste management organisations.  Examples of the cost studies carried out include:

• Estimation of the full lifecycle costs of remediation of a legacy near-surface disposal facility for LLW, based on bottom-up and top-down approaches. Estimation of lifecycle costs of alternative LLW management strategies including the cost of disposal in near-surface, engineered facilities.
• Developing a model for estimating the cost of alternative strategies for interim storage of the UK ILW inventory, including both centralised and regional approaches.
• Developing a tool for estimation of decommissioning and waste management costs through the derivation of cost norms for waste management activities covering all the main ILW waste types and a wide range of treatment techniques and strategies.
• Carrying out a review of the approach to estimating the full lifecycle costs of geological disposal for a national radioactive waste management programme, including the top-down and bottom-up methodologies applied, and analysing the treatment of uncertainty and risk.  The approach was benchmarked against international guidance, and against the approach adopted in the waste management programmes of other countries, having different levels of maturity.