U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY SUCCESSES IN DEPLOYMENT OF NEWTECHNOLOGIES FOR DEACTIVATION AND DECOMMISSIONING OFFACILITIES: ACCELERATED SITE TECHNOLOGYDEPLOYMENT CASE STUDIES

摘要

Deactivation and Decommissioning (D&D) of facilities within the U.S. Department ofrnEnergy (DOE) Weapons Complex is being accelerated through the use of new, lowercostrntechnologies. U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science andrnTechnology (OST) initiated the Accelerated Site Technology Deployment (ASTD)rnProgram in 1998 to provide leveraged funding to the DOE operating programs to helprnoffset the risk of deploying new technology and to accelerate use at multiple sites acrossrnthe Weapons Complex. Many of the technologies, provided by the private sector, werernfirst demonstrated under OST’s Deactivation and Decommissioning Focus Area (DDFA)rnLarge-Scale Demonstration Program. Cost and performance data were obtained duringrnthe demonstrations. These data have been utilized to encourage larger-scale and morernwidespread deployment, as DOE sites are sharing lessons learned. Some of therntechnologies were originally funded under DOE’s Small Business Innovative Researchrnand Industry Programs. Many of the new technologies have now replaced the oldrnbaseline operations and some are enabling technologies that are filling a need where nornprevious solution existed.rnSeveral case studies of D&D technologies provided by commercial vendors demonstraternthe keys to successful deployment of new technologies to accelerate cleanup and reducerncosts: 1) the technology must demonstrate a significant improvement in cost and/orrnperformance, so that the end user is willing to take the risk of trying something new, 2)rnthe vendor must work closely with the DOE end user to ensure that the technology meetsrnthe end user’s needs, and 3) a DOE champion can accelerate the widespread deploymentrnthrough enhanced communication between sites.