ForConstructionPros.com

After Asphalt Busters completed the soil stabilization of the material to be used, a grading contractor then spread and compacted the treated material on the new pond's sloped side walls. The entire pond was then covered with a two-layer liner to seal it from any leakage. Construction was completed between February and May 2006.

With the new pond complete, the soil stabilization contractor then began the process all over to refurbish the existing 80-acre wastewater pond. That work required 5,500 tons of cement to treat 45,000 cubic yards of stabilized soil and was completed between August and October 2007. Asphalt Busters is now in the third phase of the power plant project, stabilizing soil to be used in the construction of a 100-acre evaporation pond. When the new evaporation pond is finished, the original 80-acre evaporation pond will be rebuilt. Dan Selby, vice president of Asphalt Busters, expects the evaporation portion of the project to require 11,000 tons of cement to treat 90,000 cubic yards of material.

Stabilization solution
Selby says proposal and discussion of the soil stabilization solution took about a year before the project actually began.

"When you do work at a nuclear power plant, there are so many procedures and regulations that you have to comply with every step of the way," Selby says. "The existing pond structures were in need of repair, but whatever we recommended had to comply with dust and emissions regulations the plant has to meet.

"There are very stringent regulations concerning dust (particulate matter) that can be emitted from the facility," he continues. "The entire site is under a microscope as far as total emissions being released into the environment. That required some modifications to the skirting around the mixing chamber of our reclaimer/stabilizer, and the emissions output of our equipment was also monitored. The plant has full-time safety personnel who monitor regulations and enforce the requirements.