Greenfield status
Encyclopedia
Greenfield status is a term used to describe 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. It is synonymous to a status of unrestricted re-use; the older term.
All power plants, coal
, gas
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
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 non-hazardous.
It is becoming standard practice in many jurisdictions to mandate a return to Green Field 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, the term is coming into wider use in other areas of industrial decommissioning.
Compare: Brownfield status
Industry
Industry refers to the production of an economic good or service within an economy.-Industrial sectors:There are four key industrial economic sectors: the primary sector, largely raw material extraction industries such as mining and farming; the secondary sector, involving refining, construction,...
use is, in principle, restored to the conditions existing before the construction of the plant. It is synonymous to a status of unrestricted re-use; the older term.
All power plants, coal
Coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as anthracite coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure...
, gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
and nuclear
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...
, have a finite life beyond which it is no longer economical to operate them. At this point they must be decommissioned
Nuclear decommissioning
Nuclear decommissioning is the dismantling of a nuclear power plant and decontamination of the site to a state no longer requiring protection from radiation for the general public...
; 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
Toxin
A toxin is a poisonous substance produced within living cells or organisms; man-made substances created by artificial processes are thus excluded...
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 non-hazardous.
It is becoming standard practice in many jurisdictions to mandate a return to Green Field 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, the term is coming into wider use in other areas of industrial decommissioning.
Compare: Brownfield status
Brownfield status
Brownfield status is a condition, within certain legal exclusions and additions, of real property, the expansion, redevelopment or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant or contaminant, which may include petroleum hydrocarbon...