At the heart of the effort is the Lab's Space Action Team, created in 1995 in the Chemistry and Materials Science Directorate to improve efficiency and reduce costs by helping to consolidate facilities and programs across the Lab. Soil asphalt, concrete, wood, steel and electro-mechanical infrastructure and equipment have been recycled during the demolition of 11 buildings and 22 trailers. Soil, asphalt and concrete are now being used at landfill sites for construction, road improvements and daily operational needs. LLNL has reduced landfill costs for those materials to zero.
Pollution prevention is a guiding principle in all decontamination and demolition projects.
I was honored to receive this award on behalf of SAT and each and every member of the team. SAT has always believed that economic decontamination and demolition is real and that pollution prevention is clearly a cost saving process. Safety has also been a top priority. We've become very efficient in what we've been able to recycle out of these decommissioning and demolition projects. This effort is hampered by a lack of historical data such as plan drawings, building modification and other report documents.