Abstract
Today, worldwide far more than 100 nuclear power plants, which have been decommissioned in the recent years, are waiting for their complete dismantling. Since the dismantling of a single reactor causes costs of up to one billion Euros and lasts up to 15 years, the elaboration of a scheduling approach helping to optimize the net present value of a dismantling project seems to be worthwhile. In this paper we present a resource-constrained project scheduling approach optimizing the total discounted disbursements of dismantling a nuclear power plant. For the corresponding NP-hard optimization problem, we introduce an appropriate project scheduling model with minimum and maximum time lags, renewable and cumulative resources as well as multiple execution modes. To solve this model, we introduce a relaxation-based enumeration approach that delivers optimal solutions for problem instances containing up to 50 activities.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahuja, R. K., Magnanti, T. L., & Orlin, J. B. (1993). Network flows: theory algorithms and applications. Prentice Hall: Englewood Cliffs.
Bartels, J. H. (2009). Anwendung von Methoden der ressourcenbeschränkten Projektplanung mit multiplen Ausführungsmodi in der betriebswirtschaftlichen Praxis: Rückbauplanung für Kernkraftwerke und Versuchsträgerplanung in der Automobilentwicklung. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Bartusch, M., Möhring, R. H., & Radermacher, F. J. (1988). Scheduling project networks with resource constraints and time windows. Annals of Operations Research, 16, 201–240.
Böttcher, J., Drexl, A., Kolisch, R., & Salewski, F. (1999). Project scheduling under partially renewable resource constraints. Management Science, 45, 543–559.
De Reyck, B., & Herroelen, W. S. (1998). A branch-and-bound procedure for resource-constrained project scheduling problem with generalized precedence relations. European Journal of Operational Research, 111(1), 152–174.
Demeulemeester, E., & Herroelen, W. S. (2002). Project scheduling: a research handbook. Boston: Kluwer.
Garey, M. R., & Johnson, D. S. (1979). Computers and intractability: a guide to the theory on NP -completeness. New York: Freeman.
Gather, T. (2006). Effiziente Projektplanungsverfahren zum kostenoptimalen Rückbau von Kernkraftwerken. Diploma Thesis, Clausthal University of Technology.
Heilmann, R. (2000). Ressourcenbeschränkte Projektplanung im Mehr-Modus-Fall. Wiesbaden: Gabler.
Kolisch, R., Schwindt, C., & Sprecher, A. (1999). Benchmark instances for project scheduling problems. In J. Węglarz (Ed.), Project scheduling: recent models, algorithms and applications. Boston: Kluwer.
Neumann, K., & Schwindt, C. (2002). Project scheduling with inventory constraints. Mathematical Methods of Operations Research, 56(3), 513–533.
Neumann, K., Schwindt, C., & Zimmermann, J. (2003). Project scheduling with time windows and scarce resources. Berlin: Springer.
Roy, B. (1964). Les problèmes d’ordonnancement. Paris: Dunod.
Schwindt, C. (1998a). Generation of resource-constrained project scheduling problems subject to temporal constraints. Report WIOR University of Karlsruhe 543.
Schwindt, C. (1998b). Verfahren zur Lösung des ressourcenbeschränkten Projektdauerminimierungsproblems mit planungsabhängigen Zeitfenstern. Shaker, Wiesbaden.
Schwindt, C. (2005). Resource allocation in project management. Berlin: Springer.
Schwindt, C. (2009). Private communication.
Thomson, L. (1999). How is the international nuclear community addressing the issue of nuclear decommissioning? Is there a need for regulation on an international basis. CEPMLP Annual Review, 3, 5.
Zimmermann, J., Stark, C., & Rieck, J. (2010). Projektplanung—Modelle, Methoden, Management. Berlin: Springer.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bartels, JH., Gather, T. & Zimmermann, J. Dismantling of nuclear power plants at optimal NPV. Ann Oper Res 186, 407–427 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0788-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-010-0788-9