Greenfield status (also known as "unrestricted re-use"
) is an end point wherein a parcel of land that had been in industrial use is, in principle, restored to the conditions existing before the construction of the plant.
All
power plants
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an electrical grid.
Many power ...
—whether
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal i ...
,
gas
Gas is a state of matter that has neither a fixed volume nor a fixed shape and is a compressible fluid. A ''pure gas'' is made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon) or molecules of either a single type of atom ( elements such as ...
, and
nuclear
Nuclear may refer to:
Physics
Relating to the nucleus of the atom:
*Nuclear engineering
*Nuclear physics
*Nuclear power
*Nuclear reactor
*Nuclear weapon
*Nuclear medicine
*Radiation therapy
*Nuclear warfare
Mathematics
* Nuclear space
*Nuclear ...
—have a finite life beyond which it is no longer economical to operate them. At that point they are decommissioned; that is, they are dismantled and their components are disposed, either by sale or scrapping. In some cases the buildings that housed the plant may be put to other uses. However, in many cases contamination is unacceptable, and the buildings are demolished. The land on which the plant operated also may have been polluted with high levels of
toxin
A toxin is a naturally occurring poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. They occur especially as proteins, often conjugated. The term was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849–1919), derived ...
s, and in this case other remedial measures like removal and replacement of the top soil or clay capping may be required to render the site safe in perpetuity.
It is becoming standard practice in many jurisdictions to mandate a return to greenfield status at the end of plant service as a condition of the initial site license, and potential licensees must demonstrate that steps will be taken to assure the availability of funds via the posting of a
reclamation bond for that task before a site license will be issued. While this concept has mainly applied to the power generating industry, it is coming into wider use in other areas of industrial decommissioning.
See also
*
Brownfield status
*
Environmental remediation
Environmental remediation is the cleanup of hazardous substances dealing with the removal, treatment and containment of pollution or contaminants from Natural environment, environmental media such as soil, groundwater, sediment. Remediation may be ...
*
Greenfield land
Greenfield land is a British English term referring to undeveloped land in an urban or rural area either used for agriculture or landscape design, or left to evolve naturally. These areas of land are usually agricultural or amenity properties ...
*
Nuclear decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning is the process leading to the irreversible complete or partial closure of a nuclear facility, usually a nuclear reactor, with the ultimate aim at termination of the operating licence. The process usually runs according to ...
References
Remediation of Contaminated Areas: An Overview of International GuidanceExperiences and Techniques in the Decommissioning of Old Nuclear Power Plants
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060319134511/http://users.ictp.trieste.it/~pub_off/lectures/lns020/Cumo/Cumo.pdf , date=2006-03-19
Urban studies and planning terminology