A Digital Solution for Regulated Materials Surveys

Challenge

TRC was engaged to complete pre-demolition regulated materials surveys at Capital Power’s 88-megawatt Southport Power Plant and 68-megawatt Roxboro Power Plant. Both plants were capable of co-firing woody biomass and tire-derived fuel along with coal and were constructed at a time when asbestos-containing building materials, metal-based coatings, polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) containing equipment and mercury containing equipment were commonly used. These materials required identification to allow abatement and demolition contractors to accurate bid the projects.

Regulated material surveys require the collection of thousands of observations, hundreds of samples for laboratory analysis and development of detailed drawings indicating the locations of regulated materials to satisfy regulatory requirements. Traditional survey methods are paperwork-intensive and require duplication of effort for documentation and reporting and using these methods, the combined survey and reporting processes can take months to complete. TRC’s challenge was to compress the survey and reporting schedule and deliver a technically accurate report for contractors to bid and be acceptable to regulatory agencies.

Solution

TRC’s Digital Solutions team leveraged the functionality and connectivity of tablets and smartphones to increase accuracy and coverage when our staff conducted the on-site inspections. Notes and photographs were uploaded to a cloud-based information management system, which enabled TRC to seamlessly analyze it, generate reports and effectively communicate findings to the client in real-time.

Our team customized automated workflows that allowed our field professionals to combine on-site observations and measurements with analytical data in a single data-ecosystem without the efficiency and quality issues that arise from traditional manual workflows.

Results

• Satisfied Regulatory Requirements: TRC’s survey was performed in accordance with federal, state and local requirements, which allowed the client to use it as the basis for soliciting abatement and demolition contractor proposals.
• Compressed Project Schedule by 30%: TRC’s digital solution reduced the project schedule by 30% as compared to traditional methods, saving our client both time and money.

Project Location: Capital Power Southport & Roxboro Power Plants, North Carolina

Completion Date: 2020-2021