Project Spotlight: Decommissioning Activities, Sonoma, CA

ERRG was retained by CA Department of General Services to perform decommissioning activities at the Sonoma Developmental Center including the removal of two USTs, four ASTs, and brine tank; pool demolition and surface depression backfill; decommissioning a water treatment plant; and other miscellaneous tasks.

The bulk diesel storage tanks were installed on an elevated containment pad between historic buildings and ancient oak trees.  Each tank had to be picked by crane and lifted over the trees to load them onto flatbed trucks for transport. Another unique challenge was the decommissioning and removal of an old emergency generator from a utility building.  After the generator was originally installed in the 1970s, building additions and new utilities had blocked the access which would have been used to remove the generator from the building.  Instead, ERRG crews had to torch cut the building roof and remove steel structural members so the generator could be picked by crane and removed from the site.