An area of chemical storage was affected by a fire. A significant part of the affected facilities was destroyed, with the generation of massive environmental liabilities. Great part of the stored materials consisted of highly flammable organic solvents.

GEOKLOCK was retained to develop and manage the site’s decommissioning plan. The plan addressed operational, safety and environmental issues.

Based on the experience acquired over more than 39 years in the market, GEOKLOCK started the project with the development of a site decommissioning plan.

The efforts were carried out in three main stages:

• STAGE I: Field survey;
• STAGE II: Document review and preparation of a technical report;
• STAGE III: Meetings with the authorities to presents the plan and obtain authorization to proceed.

The development of the plan required the review of a set of over 200 documents, in addition to federal, state and local regulations. The final document addressed the following issues:

• H&S requirements;
• Inventory of equipment and tools;
• Solid waste management plan;
• Process to clean up other affected areas: cleaning and inerting;
• Risk mitigation plan.

The work plan was approved and implemented. GEOKLOCK was in charge of managing the entire project, which included the following tasks:

• Work site implementation;
• Air quality monitoring in the area affected by the fire during the implementation of the work;
• Planning and supervision of inerting and demolition protocols;
• Planning and supervision of services for the disassembly and demolition of tanks, pipe-hacks and concrete structures affected by the fire;
• Classification, transportation and destination of the wastes generated.

At the end of the work, over 1000 tonnes of metal scrap and 25 tonnes of solid wastes were given a suitable final destination.