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 plant
A power station, also referred to as a power plant and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the electricity generation, generation of electric power. Power stations are generally connected to an el ...
s,
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 elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
,
gas
Gas is one of the four fundamental states of matter (the others being solid, liquid, and plasma).
A pure gas may be made up of individual atoms (e.g. a noble gas like neon), elemental molecules made from one type of atom (e.g. oxygen), or ...
, and
nuclear, have a finite life beyond which it is no longer economical to operate them. At this point they must be decommissioned; that is, they must be dismantled and their components disposed of 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 must be demolished. The land on which the plant sat also may have been polluted with high levels of
toxin
A toxin is a naturally occurring organic poison produced by metabolic activities of living cells or organisms. Toxins occur especially as a protein or conjugated protein. The term toxin was first used by organic chemist Ludwig Brieger (1849 ...
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
Reclaim, reclaimed, reclaimer, reclaiming or reclamation means "to get something back".
It may refer to:
* Land reclamation, creating new land from oceans, riverbeds, or lake beds
* Dedesertification, reversing of the land degradation in arid a ...
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
*
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
References
{{Reflist
Remediation of Contaminated Areas: An Overview of International GuidanceExperiences and Techniques in the Decommissioning of Old Nuclear Power Plants
Urban studies and planning terminology