Disposal Costs for Environmentally Regulated Facilities: LCC Approach

Environmental issues are becoming an increasingly important consideration in the design of a facility. In many cases, a facility's life cycle must now include a disposal phase that addresses the facility's physical removal from its present site, with the site being returned to its “natural” condition. If the disposal phase costs are identified as a significant portion of the facility's overall life-cycle cost, the owner can initiate a balance between functional requirements and disposal requirements early on in the facility's planning and design phase. This paper discusses the development of a model that qualifies and quantifies a facility's final disposal cost. Life-cycle cost equations are formulated to quantify the disposal phase costs. During the facility's life cycle, the owner will be able to revise the costs in the model to reflect the facility's changing conditions, track the changes in the disposal costs, and assess the causes for these changes. Owners are thus empowered to take a more proactive role in controlling the identified adverse changes.