ESB Experience of Remediating Asbestos Contaminated Land

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Harriet Oliver
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1 ESB Experience of Remediating Asbestos Contaminated Land Patrick J. Colman - ESB John Scanlon - ESB Jan Templeman - TNO

2 Introduction ESB Usage of Asbestos in ESB ESB Policies on Asbestos 1968 Policy 1990 Policy Incident November 1998 Project Team Set Up Methodology Site Surveys Site Decontamination

3 Electricity Supply Board (ESB) Founded 1927 Government owned utility Generation, Transmission & Supply Fossil fuel, Hydro and Wind-power ~30 Power Stations 5MW 315MW ( ) Major use of asbestos in older power stations

4 Usage of Asbestos in ESB Widespread use of asbestos insulation in older power stations Use of asbestos insulation discontinued in 1968 Pre 1968 asbestos insulation managed Use of asbestos products in all locations up to EU ban most remain in place and managed

5 ESB Policies on Asbestos 1968 Policy Discontinue use and maintain existing insulation Codes of practice drawn up in line with or exceeding legislative requirements (Regularly up-dated) Internal asbestos laboratory set-up 1990 Policy 6 Year Plan Remove all accessible asbestos Included known asbestos disposal sites

6 Asbestos Disposal Covered by 1983 Hazardous Waste Regulations No special requirement prior to this Up to 1970s waste co-disposed with general waste usually on-site Post 1970 ESB bagged and disposed of separately on site 1991 Disposed of in Hazardous waste landfills offsite

7 Locations of ESB Power Stations

8 Removal of asbestos from power plants straightforward Excavation of known disposal sites also straightforward i.e., remove bagged material and any loose contaminated soil Site Clearance Investigation of station disposal sites for asbestos contaminated material carried out

9 Suspect Areas Station waste disposal sites Ash ponds Approach taken Station Records Interviews Coring Trenching Analysis of samples

11 Incident November 1998 Waste from an unknown asbestos disposal site disposed of off-site Waste had to be returned to site (~3,500t) and then exported Investigation carried out Dedicated Project team set-up to investigate all ESB sites for asbestos contamination

12 Project Management Team Set Up Project Board Senior Management Project Director Project Manager

13 Methodology Site Surveys Similar to previous internal surveys Carried out by independent engineers Sampling Report for each site Risk Assessment for each site Define site-clearance? Asbestos Safe categorisation

16 Remediate or not? Ability to remediate a site soil Cost of Remediation Other factors Future use, PR, Company Policy etc Alternative Licence site as hazardous waste disposal area

17 Asbestos Safe Categorisation Based on Asbestos clearance certification i.e., no visible asbestos and no airborne asbestos fibres Defined for remediation as: no visible asbestos and concentration of asbestos in soil less than 0.1%w/w

18 Remediation Procedure Area gridded in 5 m x 5m sectors Grids excavated, soil examined and sorted by hand asbestos bagged as hazardous waste On-going inspection and sampling by ESB asbestos analysts Air monitoring carried out throughout work When a number of areas have been completed an external consultant validates the work by independent inspection and sampling

19 Part of the project Controlled by According to Standard Inspection methods site investigation & measurement strategy ESB Major Projects (ESBMP), ESB Chemical Services (ESBCS) TNO Laboratory analysis ESBCS & URS ISO Derived from EN & ISO 9002 Dutch Standard NEN 5707 St. Method Site Investigation (IOM 1993) Heath & safety aspects ESBMP Irish and EU Legislation Remediation performance ESBMP, URS and TNO Derived from Dutch legislation (< 100 mg/kg) Disposal of waste ESBCS Irish & EU legislation Strategy development ESBMP and TNO Best int l practice (ISO 9002) Project Management ESB Major Projects Best int l practice (ISO 9002)

21 Remediation of Asbestos Contaminated Sites ESB has built up unique experience in managing the remediation and development of asbestos contaminated sites.

22 Remediation of Asbestos Contaminated Sites Thank You & Questions

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