2017 International Nuclear Atlantic Conference - INAC 2017 Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, October 22-27, 2017 ASSOCIAÇÃO BRASILEIRA DE ENERGIA NUCLEAR– ABEN
USE OF PROJECT MANAGEMENT APPROACH FOR PLANNING OF
DECOMMISSIONING ACTIVITIES OF A URANIUM MINING SITE.
Saulo F. Q. Ribeiro1, Ricardo F. Lage
2, Danielle E. Gomes
3 and Iukio Ogawa
4
1 Coordenação de Licenciamento, Engenharia e Projetos – COLEP.M
Diretoria de Recursos Minerais
Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil - INB - Rio
Av. República do Chile, 230 - 2401 a 2501 - Centro
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, CEP 20031 919
2 Gerência de Meio Ambiente, Licenciamento, Qualidade e Segurança - GALQS.P
Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil - INB - Rio
Av. República do Chile, 230 - 2401 a 2501 - Centro
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, CEP 20031 919
3 Gerência de Licenciamento, Engenharia e Projetos – GELEP.M
Diretoria de Recursos Minerais
Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil - INB - Rio
Av. República do Chile, 230 - 2401 a 2501 - Centro
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, CEP 20031 919
4 Superintendência de Engenharia, Licenciamento, Projetos e Qualidade – SELPQ.M
Diretoria de Recursos Minerais
Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil - INB - Rio
Av. República do Chile, 230 - 2401 a 2501 - Centro
Rio de Janeiro/RJ, CEP 20031 919
ABSTRACT
The decommissioning of nuclear facilities in the fuel cycle is an extremely important factor for the
continuity of nuclear program in any country, especially in that countries such as Brazil, where there are some
facilities are in process of being dismantled or must be decommissioned in the medium and long term. Since the
decommissioning is a process quite complex and expensive and for this reason, it must be handle with modern
management practices for so that the chances of success are increased.
This work aims to describe the management plan and the strategy adopted for the execution of the
decommissioning and environmental remediation (D&ER) activities for the first uranium mine in Brazil,
located in the Minas Gerais State and known as Unidade de Tratamento de Minério (UTM). This facility was
operated between 1982 and 1995. All the economically recoverable uranium was extracted and nowadays there
is no mining activity is underway and there are only research and laboratory activities are running in the site.
The conceptual plans for decommissioning and remediation for this unit have been prepared and emergency
activities were recommended. These activities are related to studies about drainage acid, ensure safety of dams,
adequacy of CAKE II storage conditions and request for operating licenses for the decommissioning from
IBAMA and the authorization from CNEN.
The majority of the critical factors for decommissioning had their origin due the characteristics of the
project have been implemented and has remained due to uncertainties in the decision-making process over time.
This project has a set of variables that need to be analyzed considering different aspects as licensing and
INAC 2017, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
regulatory framework, radiological, technical and engineering issues, beyond costs, schedule, risks and human
resources.
In this sense, it was decided to adopt the good practices of project management, published by the
Project Management Institute - PMI and to give a differentiated treatment to the set of activities necessary for
the decommissioning process, identifying and relating their interdependencies and areas of influence. External
factors such as public opinion, community engagement were also considered in the planning because of their
power to influence the project.
As conclusion is expected that all stakeholders involved in this project start to work in cooperation in
order to find appropriate solutions and delivering the best results by mitigating the risks and returning these site
in as good an environmental condition as possible, respecting the technical and economical issues.
1. INTRODUCTION
The Indústrias Nucleares do Brasil (INB) is the brazilian mixed economy company in charge
of the nuclear fuel cycle in Brazil. It is subordinated to the Comissão Nacional de Energia
Nuclear (CNEN) and under responsibility to the Ministry for Science, Technology and
Comunication. The company units are located throughout the Brazilian territory in the
following states: Bahia, Ceará, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro (where it has its
headquarters).
In the state of Minas Gerais, there is the first explored uranium mine of Brazil. Formerly
known as Poços de Caldas Industrial Complex - CIPC, the uranium mining and milling
industrial complex is now called Unidade de Tratamento de Minérios (UTM). Located at the
Poços de Caldas plateau the unit produced, from 1982 to 1995, 1,170 ton of ammonium
diuranate (yellow cake). The waste generated in this process is kept in a 29.2 hectare tailing
dam system, with an actual volume capacity of 1 million cubic meters. It is estimated that 4.8
TBq (130 Ci) of 238U, 15 TBq (405 Ci) of 226Ra and 4.2 TBq (112 Ci) of 228Ra were
disposed of in this site, to the present date.
The UTM is located in a place called Campo do Cercado, located in the Planalto de Poços de
Caldas, a region belonging to the municipality of Caldas, southwest of the State of Minas
Gerais, under UTM coordinates: 7,560,000 - 7,582,000 N and 334,000 - 356,000, comprising
an area of approximately 18 km². Figure 1 shows the location of the unit and the
municipalities surrounding the facility. These unit is at a maximum distance of 30 km from
the main cities of the region (Andradas, Águas da Prata, Caldas, Ibitiura de Minas and Poços
de Caldas), 180 km north of the city of São Paulo, 350 km southwest of Belo Horizonte and
360 km northwest of Rio de Janeiro. The main road access of the UTM Caldas is done by an
asphalt road with approximately 10 km, starting at km 20.5 of the highway connecting Poços
de Caldas to Andradas.
The operation of the rare-earth production line of Santo Amaro Processing Plant (USAM) in
São Paulo has generated Mesothorium (a material containing 226Ra and 228Ra) and Cake II
(composed basically of thorium hydroxide concentrate). These materials, although not
formally classified as waste, are presently stored in UTM. In the unit there are about 1,200
m3 of Mesothorium and 7,250 m3 of Cake II presently stored.
The Unidade de Tratamento de Minério (UTM) at Poços de Caldas mining and milling
complex is currently being decommissioned by INB. In September 2009, it was initiated the
Preparation of the Remediation Plan - PRAD (Degraded Areas Reclamation Plan). This Plan
has been completed in 2011 and includes all areas of the UTM. A revision was concluded in
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January 2012, and it has been delivered to IBAMA and CNEN in April of the same year, for
analysis.
Figure 1 – Location of UTM-Caldas and surrounding municipalities.
The main components of UTM industrial-mining complex are listed below and shown in
Figure 2.
Mine Pit;
Waste Piles;
Plant of Beneficiation;
Chemical Plant;
Infrastructures areas, including laboratories; workshops; offices; locker rooms;
fuel station; garden; water, sewage and effluent treatment units, etc .;
Substations;
Tailings Dams;
Deposit of radioactive material;
Roads.
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Figure 2 – Site aerial view
In a simplified way, the process carried out in the unit consisted of:
Removal and transport of pickling material (earthy material at the top of the
plowed area) for deposits in the area of the Unit;
Removal and transport of sterile material (material with uranium concentration
below the minimum value determined for the beneficiation process - shear
content) for batteries located in the Unit area;
Removal and transport of ore (material with uranium concentration above the cut-
off content) to the crushing yard.
Crushing;
Beneficiation of ore in wet separation processes;
Disposal of waste from the beneficiation in the tailings dam.
The plant was designed to treat about 750,000 t / year of ore, with the mine being designed to
meet the demand of nuclear power plants. Over the useful life of the UTM-Caldas, about 2.3
Mt of ore and 108.1 Mt of sterile were drawn, representing a sterile-ore ratio of pproximately
REM 47: 1, including 89.9 Mt of pickling material. About 2.09 Mt of ore was fed at the plant,
producing approximately 1,030t of U.
2. CASES STUDIES
During forty nine years, the former Soviet-German Wismut company explored and processed
an amount of proximally 216,000 t of uranium in two large mills located near Seelingstädt
(Thuringia) and Crossen (Saxony). Since the ore were explored for complete, the remediation
of the legacy was a task gave to the federally-owned company called Wismut GmbH. All the
remedial effort was focused on:
Mine decommissioning
Mine flooding
Horto Florestal
Plataforma Industrial
Depósito de Material
Radioativo
Barragem
de Rejeitos
Cava da Mina
Bota-Fora 4
Bota-Fora 8
Estação de
Tratamento
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Water treatment
Disassembly and demolition of contaminated buildings and structures
Remediation of mine dumps and tailings ponds
Environmental monitoring
In the sense, the decommissioning activities were started in 1991, and according the up-to-
date estimate cost is about EUR 8 billion, until 2045, for the whole decommissioning project,
being that EUR 6 billion have been spent so far.
Although many IAEA reports have been published to provide information and guidance to
Member States for the mining and milling of radioactive ores, mill tailings management and
the decommissioning of nuclear facilities. The purpose of the technical report series No.362
is to provide information in order to assist in planning and implementing the
decommissioning/closeout of uranium mining and milling facilities considering a large
number of aspects [1]. The most important points described in the technical report are in line
with the planning that was elaborated for decommissioning activities of the UTM site. This
report also details the international experience in eight countries and described the main
characteristics of each project and how each country has dealt with this challenge. Many data
presented are very useful and were considered into planning phase and mainly the good
practices were incorporated to the project basis and others solutions has been studied and may
be considered as part of the final solution.
3. THE DECOMMISSIONING PROCESS OF UTM
The greatest challenge of this work was to understand how a large number of variables and
multiple players that can influence the project. The different points of view need to be
understood and combined to get the adequate solutions to the project. The Diagram 1 is an
attempt to show how all of these factors interact into a complex and dynamic system. The
first step is to convince all stakeholders that D&ER project is a long-term solution and need
to be carrying out considering all aspects in which the project is inserted. These aspects
introduce issues about policy, political, legal and regulation and need to be addressed with
technical issues as strategy, model, planning, knowledge and capacity.
Other important step is about which approach should be followed for radiological and non-
radiological issues. For the radiological, the main target goes into definition about source
term, assessment of waste and tailings and the definition of background levels for the entire
site. The non-radiological aspects, it is necessary to certified that the environmental
management has been part of the planning and all inputs about its specific legislation has
been considered, inclusive social impacts.
The use of risk assessment and uncertainty analysis for decision-making may take different
perspectives, there is a shared and common understanding that these tools provide useful
decision support in the sense that their outcomes inform the decision-makers in so far as the
technical risk side of the problem is relevant for the decision [2].
Once selected the approach it is necessary to move up to a risk assessment and identify the
potential risks and analyze their impacts and probabilities. The inputs for this analysis came
from historical data, operational experience, legislation, complementary surveys, expert
opinion, and others. As a result of this process, new issues came out and adequate treatment
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must be given to reallocate them into acceptable risk levels. The outputs of this step will
provide detailed information to understand the current situation and also to support the
decision-making process.
After all these work done, the next step is integrated all activities organize them into a
program, plans and process where the next actions can be management in a organized e
cohesive way considering in fact all engineering and project management fundamentals as the
basis of the decommissioning and remediation environmental project.
The last step is setup a monitoring and controlling system to evaluation the results, risks and
actions of the previous activities and reassessing and feeding again these process in order to
become more assertive and take corrective actions before bringing about deep changes in
project scope, risks and costs.
Diagram 1 – Overview of the Decommissioning Process adopted in UTM´s site.
4. PROJECT MANAGEMENT LINKED TO THE DECOMISSIONING PROCESS
Faced with the challenge scenario and the actual situation it is extremely recommend to take
actions in order to properly manage the decommissioning process of that nuclear facility.
Then, it was decided to adopt the best practices of project management as established in the
PMBOK Guide, 2013 – 5th Edition.
INAC 2017, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
This decision has profoundly changed the way the company faces this challenge because
quantitative data related to costs and deadlines have been presented through a consistent
approach based on previous projects at the international level and on own experience. An
estimate of financial expenditure over the years was calculated and the major problems were
listed and integrated.
As a result, a robust and consistent management plan has been developed and the main
objective of which is to remain focused on the planned decommissioning activities. Any other
activity that competes with the main objective or might produce positive or negative impacts
to the project should be analyzed through the change management plan and its results and
consequences should be analyzed in an integrated manner considering its technical and
feasibility studies as well as the impacts in the costs, scope, time and risks.
Several steps were taken before to move forward on the conceptual decommissioning studies
already in place for a project management plan.
4.1 External Stakeholders
Stakeholder Management includes the processes required to identify the people, groups and
organizations that could affect or be affected by the project, to analyze stakeholder
expectations and their impact on the project, and to develop appropriate strategies and tactics
for effectively engaging them in appropriate manner in the project. It helps ensure that
stakeholders are effectively involved in project decisions and execution throughout the
lifecycle of the project, to gain support for the project and anticipate resistance, conflict, or
competing objectives among the project’s stakeholders [3].
An important outcome of the stakeholder identification and analysis work, including the
Power/Interest Grid, is to identify the most influential and most impacted stakeholder groups
allowing to focus in specific actions to engage the stakeholders.
The Table 1 shows a list of main external stakeholders considering their interest and
influence level in the project. The column ‘position’ represents the result of their combination
between interest and influence level. Each position indicates a stakeholder category that is the
essencial information to decide about which strategy follow for each one.
The Position is assessed using the measures combination adapted from PMBOK by Very
High (VH), High (H), Medium (M) or Low (L) as shown in Table 2. The result is group
categorization as follows:
R – Resistant – aware of project and resistant to the changes and impacts the project may
bring
N – Neutral – aware of the project and neither supportive nor resistant
S – Supportive – aware of the project and the potential changes and impacts and is
supportive
K – Key – aware of the project and has a important role/influence in the success of the
project
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Table 1 – List of main stakeholders and their position in the project
Stakeholder Title/Role Interest
Level
Influence
Level
Position Requirements Best way to management
Indústrias
Nucleares do
Brasil
(INB)
Sponsor H VH Key
Project delivered
on time and in
budget; Self
financial
Monitoring and
Controlling activities;
Effective comunication
Plan; Publicize results
Ministry of
Science,
Technology,
Innovation and
Communication
of Brazil –
MCTIC
Entity H VH Key Support Brazilian
Nuclear Program
Results communication
plan; Show goals
reached
Ministry of
Planning, Develo
pment and
Management –
MPDG
Entity L VH Resistant
Execution of the
budget as planned;
Reduction of
financial risks of
the site
Results communication
plan; show goals
reached; Inform the
reduction of future
financial impacts
Nuclear
Regulatory Body
(CNEN)
Regulator
y Body H H Key
Project meets
nuclear national
and international
standards
Manage licensing
processes and answer
the requirements in a
timely manner; Hiring
experts to ensure best
practices are being
applied
Enviromental
Regulator Body
(IBAMA)
Regulator
y Body L H Resistant
Project meets
environmental
standards; welfare
society
Manage licensing
processes and efficient
communication
program
Civil Society
(trade unions,
environmental,
cultural and
religious groups)
Entity L H Resistant Civil Society
Engagement
Elaborate an efficient
communication
program on the
progress of the project
Eletronuclear Customer H L Supportive Meeting itself
uranium demand
Institutional
Relationship Program
Population
around the site Entity L L Neutral
Population
Engagement
Elaborate a program of
social communication,
social responsibility
and environmental
education
Table 2 – Stakeholders Assessment Table Interest
Level
Influence
Level
Position Interest
Level
Influence
Level
Position Interest
Level
Influence
Level
Position
L L Neutral M H Resistant VH L Supportive
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L M Neutral M VH Resistant VH M Supportive
L H Resistant H L Supportive VH H Key
L VH Resistant H M Supportive VH VH Key
M L Neutral H H Key L – Low H – High
M M Neutral H VH Key M - Medium VH –Very High
4.2 SCOPE
The project management plan for the decommissioning and environmental remediation is a
document that provides the guidelines for the execution and monitoring of a set of integrated
projects that aim the rehabilitation of the degraded site. It is composed of a set of subprojects
that incorporate the proposed measures to mitigate the environmental impacts resulting from
past activities.
The actions for remediation discussed in this plan include procedures that guide its execution
considering the quality and radiological protection framework, as well as studies for
improvement in the water treatment system, ongoing maintenance of the unit, safety of
tailings deposit and dams, dismantling of industrial area, management of waste rocks and
others.
The main activities for the implementation of these actions are presented below, as described
subitem 4.2.1 - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).
One of the main objectives of planning was to sequence and integrate the whole project
observing the assumptions and constraints of human, material, technical and financial
resources. As a result of this process it was estimated the schedule and costs of the project.
4.2.1. Work Breakdown Structure
The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) consists in converter the project in smaller units,
providing information at appropriate levels to estimate the cost of each item, as well as allows
the proper construction of the schedule, costs, resources, risks and others.
The Figure 3 presents the simplified WBS of the project. In order to improve and facilitate
the understanding, planning, monitoring and controlling and the execution of the project were
identified 11 subprojects distributed in 264 macro activities. For each one, had detailed the
scope, schedule, costs, human resources and responsibilities.
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Figure 3 – Work Breakdown Structure (WBS)
4.3. BASELINES
The baselines serve with reference, a guide of what was already planned with all or most of
the attributes established and approved, that is, indicates that the planning was carried out and
that the project is ready to be started.
The baselines allow a comparison between the planned versus realized and provide the
necessary elements for evaluation of the ongoing project and other similar projects.
4.3.1 Scope Baseline
The scope baseline is comprised of three main components: Detailed scope statement, the
Work breakdown structure (WBS) and the WBS dictionary. All of these scope elements were
considered in the planning and by the extension of the project elements they were suppressed
in that article.
The WBS Dictionary was developed at the macro level (subprojects) and the objective of
each subproject was complemented by the respective technical reports.
4.3.2 Schedule Baseline
The schedule baseline contains the start and end dates of all schedule activities and is used to
evaluate the progress of the project. At the end of the planning phase, it is "frozen" and
becomes the basis for the monitoring and controling deadlines, always carrying out the
comparison of the expected versus realized.
The Table 3 shows the WBS macro activities and lists each one. All the dates estimated
cames from the integration and sequencing of all the activities estimated from the planning
phase. This numbers came from the previous experience and other related activities in the
company.
PRAD
LICENSING ANDQUALITY
SOCIAL ANDENVIRONMENTAL
PRADDAMS
SITEMAINTENANCE
WATERTREATMENT
SOCIALCOMMUNICATION
PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT
RADIOLOGICALASPECTS
PRADWASTE ROCK
CAKE II
PLANTDISMANTLING
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It can be observed that the duration of the project is predicted to be 7805 days. The project
planning activity started on 08/02/2016, shortly after the opening term was approved by the
executive board. The project's expected completion is 05/01/2046, confirming our previous
30-year expectations plus 10 years of post-decommissioning monitoring and maintenance
activities. It is worth to remember that at the end of this date, the site will need to remain with
the monitoring and controlling activities, such as laboratories, administrative and industrial
maintenance activities.
Table 3 – Summary Schedule
TASK NAME DURATION START END
PRAD 7805 days Seg 08/02/16 Sex 05/01/46
PLANNING/MANAGEMENT 7805 days Seg 08/02/16 Sex 05/01/46
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENT 480 days Seg 06/06/16 Seg 09/04/18
RADIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 1560 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 27/05/22
DAMS 2520 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 30/01/26
WASTE ROCK 2800 days Seg 10/02/20 Sex 01/11/30
SITE MAINTENANCE 3316 days Seg 06/06/16 Seg 19/02/29
CAKE II 2700 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 09/10/26
WATER TREATMENT 3280 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 29/12/28
PLANT DISMANTLING 3720 days Seg 06/10/31 Sex 05/01/46
SOCIAL COMMUNICATION 420 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 12/01/18
LICENSING AND QUALITY 480 days Seg 06/06/16 Sex 06/04/18
Activities of longer duration (> 2500 days) were selected and an alternative view was
generated that is shown in Figure 8. In this case, it is easier to understand the beginning and
duration of each macro activity within the context of the whole project. Many activities will
are performed in parallel, as is the case of Unit Maintenance, Water Treatment, Wast Rock
Deposit, Plant Dismantling, CAKE II and Dams. The plant dismantling activity should begin,
after definitions that will come from previous activities. The Figure 4 represents the timeline
of the project.
Figure 4 – Timeline of the project
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4.3.2.1 Critical Path
The critical path has been determined and the activities that are part of this path are essential
to the project and any delay in these activities will result in a delay of the project as a whole
and therefore greater attention should be given to this set of activities. Figure 5 shows in red
the critical path.
Figure 5 – Critical path
4.3.3 Cost Baseline
The cost baseline is an approved version of the project budget in phases, excluding any
management reserve. The cost baseline can only be changed through formal change control
procedures and is used as the basis for comparison with actual results.
The annual cost estimate was based on previous surveys, taking into account PRAD [4]
similar projects around the world, and current INB projects.
The stratification of project costs by WBS macro activities (or by subprojects) is set out in
Figure 6. An estimated expenditure of US$ 450,000,000.00 (not considering management
reversals) is planned and distributed over 40 years. Management reserves are composed of
contingency reserves (those are exclusively for the risk management process) and the other
reserves (are those destined to other events, not associated with the risks raised, eg, project
changes). These reserves represent 10% of the total value of the project.
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Figure 6 – Cost by WBS macro activities.
US$x1000
1.1 PLANNING / MANAGEMENT 65.000,00 14,44%
Management
Administration 10.000,00
Radiological and Environmental Monitoring 20.000,00
Social Communication and Environmental Education 15.000,00
Trainning 10.000,00
Quality Assurance and Licensing / Physical Protection / Fire Protection 10.000,00
Contingency
1.2 SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL 5.000,00 1,11%
Socioeconomic and Environmental Survey 3.000,00
Hydrogeology (drilling and modeling) 2.000,00
1.3 RADIOLOGICAL ASPECTS 2.500,00 0,56%
Program Detailing 500,00
Waste Management 2.000,00
1.4 DAMS 29.500,00 6,56%
Program Detailing 500,00
Geotechnical projects (waste piles, dams and slopes) 4.000,00
Earth moving 5.000,00
1.4.2 Reject Dam 20.000,00
1.5 WASTE ROCK 58.000,00 12,89%
Geotechnical projects (waste piles, dams and slopes) 10.000,00
Earth moving 40.000,00
Acid Water Treatment 8.000,00
1.6 SITE MAINTENANCE 112.000,00 24,89%
Vegetation recovery 10.000,00
Erosion control 20.000,00
Laboratory Maintenance 10.000,00
Property security 10.000,00
Maintenance of Water Treatment Plant 15.000,00
1.6.1 General dredging 20.000,00
Geotechnical projects (waste piles, dams and slopes) 6.000,00
Earth moving 5.000,00
Acid Water Treatment 6.000,00
1.6.2 Construction and recovery of laboratories 10.000,00
1.7 CAKE II 16.000,00 3,56%
Waste Management 16.000,00
1.8 WATER TREATMENT 115.000,00 25,56%
Recovery of the cava 50.000,00
Preparation of the cava 50.000,00
Acid Water Treatment 6.000,00
1.8.1 Waste Management 2.000,00
Research development and pilot plant 5.000,00
Process Control Program 2.000,00
1.9 PLANT DISMANTLING 45.000,00 10,00%
Industrial Plant Recovery / Maintenance 15.000,00
Decommissioning and dismantling of the plant 30.000,00
1.10 SOCIAL COMMUNICATION 1.000,00 0,22%
Social Communication and Environmental Education 1.000,00
1.11 LICENSING AND QUALITY 1.000,00 0,22%
Program Adjustments (GQ, PR, PMA) 1.000,00
TOTAL 450.000,00 100%
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The Figure 7 illustrates the annual project cost expectation. In the first three years, an
estimated cost of US $ 20,000,000.00 is estimated for the contracting of complementary
studies, socioeconomic and environmental surveys, social communication and environmental
education, drilling, modeling, adjustments in radiological, environmental and quality
warranty.
Starting in 2020, after the initial stage, a considerable financial contribution will be required
to carry out the activities. In this stage, the execution of several subprojects begins, and an
average annual cost of US$ 17,200,000.00 is estimated between the years until 2041.
In the period between 2042 and 2046 an annual expenditure of US$ 6,000,000.00 is estimated
with activities related to the dismantling of the chemical plant. This activity should starts
after CAKE II package that are stored in the grounded concrete silos.
It is estimated that as of 2047 the planned activities have reached the proposed objectives and
the PRAD has been successful. Expenditures from this point on are due to the routine
activities of the unit, such as monitoring and control, laboratories, industrial maintenance,
offices and others. For this phase, an estimated US$ 3,000,000.00 per year is required to
maintain the unit in this new cycle of its life.
Figure 7 – Estimated Annualized Project Costs
INAC 2017, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
4.3.3.1 S-Curve
The Figure 8 illustrates in a very simplified way the cumulative distribution of the project's
financial resources over time. It is interesting to observe that it follows the behavior expected
for the development of an enterprise.
Initially, the response to investments made is slow. Next, there is an abrupt acceleration in the
curve, when the necessary knowledge is obtained to progress. In the end, the investment
response becomes less intensive again.
Figure 8 – S-Curve (PRAD-UTM).
5. CONCLUSIONS
In summary, the purpose of this paper is to describe how the planning process adopted by the
company has been used to identify and transform the several isolated initiatives to solve the
problems of the unit and transform it into a robust, integrated and organized project. To do
Plant dismantling
Post-Decommissiong Phase
Execution Begin
Complementary Studies
INAC 2017, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
so, the best project management practices were used as recommended by the Project
Management Institute (PMI).
As a result, it is clear the need to develop a joint effort to make feasible a financing model
compatible with the size of this project, without losing sight of the economic and financial
situation of the country, remembering that it is of fundamental importance to define this
model that will produce direct consequences to the success of this enterprise.
The project is divided into work packages that now total 263 activities distributed over
approximately 30 years of project life expectancy plus 10 years more for post-
decommissioning activities. The cost estimate for the project is of the order of US$
450,000,000.00. This number demonstrates the need to develop a financing model, since
these are high expenditures and require extensive discussion to obtain these resources.
It is necessary to engage all stakeholders, including government, licensing institutions,
funders, judiciary and civil society so that they are aware of the solutions proposed for that
site and that each one can act proactively, within its responsibilities, in the search for
definitive solutions for the decommissioning and recovery of degraded areas.
REFERENCES
1. IAEA - INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY, Decommissioning of facilities
for mining and milling of radioactive ores and closeout of residues. — Vienna:
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