THE CHALLENGE:
A former coal-fired Power Station was undergoing decommissioning by the site operator. 3,250 tonnes of silts removed from the base of four cooling towers had become cross-contaminated by asbestos cement sheeting (ACS) fragments arising from degraded cooling fins. Disposal of impacted silts cleared during site decommissioning works would be classified as Hazardous Waste therefore uneconomical.
Following a site inspection & sampling exercise, Soilfix were contracted to provide a more sustainable and cost-effective disposal solution for the asbestos impacted silts.
OUR SOLUTION:
Soilfix undertook pre-treatment and off-site disposal of ACS impacted silt materials, fully in accordance with the Control of Asbestos (CAR) Regulations 2012, including:
- Development of an Asbestos Plan of Works (APoW) to the satisfaction of Uniper;
- Clearance & enabling works to form safe working area at base of Cooling Tower 4;
- Controlled riddling / handpicking of ACS fragments from silt materials using certified operatives—segregated asbestos double-bagged for hazardous waste disposal;
- Further waste classification testing of processed silt materials ;
- Off-site disposal of decategorized silt materials as Non-Hazardous soils & stones under full Duty of Care; and,
- Routine fibre suppression and reassurance air testing (no exceedance of <0.01f/ml air control limit).
Soilfix successfully de-categorised all silt materials over a 3-week period without any lost time incidents or accidents, removing 1.5 tonnes of double-bagged asbestos fragments in the process. This waste de-categorisation process saved £675,000 from the client’s overall decommissioning budget.
