Invernizzi, DC orcid.org/0000-0001-8178-9557, Locatelli, G orcid.org/0000-0001-9986-2249, Brookes, NJ et al. (1 more author) (2017) Similar but different: a top-down benchmarking approach to investigate nuclear decommissioning projects. In: Proceeding of the 2017 25th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE25). ICONE25, 02-06 Jul 2017, Shanghai, China. American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) ISBN 978-0-7918-5783-0
Abstract
Project management literature has, until now, mainly focused on new build and only in the last decades the issues of decommissioning (mega) projects has arisen. To respond to this changing environment, project management will need to understand the challenges of decommissioning projects. Decommissioning projects within Oil & Gas, Chemical and Nuclear sectors are characterized by high costs, long schedules and uncertainty-based risks. The budget for Nuclear Decommissioning Projects and Programmes (NDPs) are subject to well publicized increases and, due to their relatively recent emergence, complexity and variety, key stakeholders lack a full understanding of the key factors influencing these increases. Benchmarking involves “comparing actual or planned practices [...] to identify best practices, generate ideas for improvement” and offers significant potential to improve the performance of project selection, planning and delivery. However, even if benchmarking is the envisaged methodology to investigate the NDPs characteristics that impact on the NDPs performance, until now, it has only been partially used and there is a huge gap in the literature concerning benchmarking NDPs. This paper adapts a top-down benchmarking approach to highlight the NDPs characteristics that mostly impact on the NDPs performance. This is exemplified by a systematic quantitative and qualitative cross-comparison of two major “similar-but-different” NDPs: Rocky Flats (US) and Sellafield (UK). Main results concern the understanding of the alternatives of the owner and/or the contractors in relation to (1) the physical characteristics and the end state of the nuclear site, (2) the governance, funding & contracting schemes, and (3) the stakeholders’ engagement.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Civil Engineering (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number National Nuclear Laboratory Limited NNL/UA/002 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 03 Apr 2017 13:02 |
Last Modified: | 28 Nov 2017 17:09 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) |
Identification Number: | 10.1115/ICONE25-66155 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:114397 |