Geographical Evaluation
Background
Land quality needs to be assessed and managed as part of an industrial site’s operational or decommissioning programme to ensure that high clean-up standards, environmental targets and agreed site end-points can be met
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UKAEA can provide the tools and expertise required to do this in systematic way by collecting, interpreting and assessing all the required data associated with land quality to meet your immediate and longer-term objectives.
Our approach
UKAEA developed, and now provide, a GIS (Geographic Information System) based records management system called IMAGES (Information Management and Geographical Evaluation System). IMAGES has a series of interacting modules that store and link together a variety of different types of land quality data, including:
- Building histories
- Documents and photographs
- Radiation monitoring (health physics) data
- Intrusive survey/characterisation data
- Water quality
- GIS files and metadata
- Land assessment (works carried out, risk assessment and management actions)
- On-site excavation advice and tracking
IMAGES accepts both new data, collected on a series of standard templates, as well as relevant historical data which can be imported into the system to build up a complete record of land quality for a site. To provide control, IMAGES has a number of features including quality marking of data, access control, custodian identification of data sources, archiving and version control.
Data can be interrogated through the database, reported to third party applications and delivered to the GIS for spatial analysis. The implementation of web-tools and GIS-mapping extensions with IMAGES also allows the distribution of selected data from IMAGES to a wider audience, to an extent and in a format that meets the needs of the end user.
UKAEA also have experience in providing a range of GIS and associated analytical and modelling software to analyse and interpret land quality data. Examples of analyses undertaken include detailed contaminated land inventory, subsurface infrastructure, geospatial modelling and 3D visualisations, and contaminated land risk assessment and numerical modelling.
The benefits
Using IMAGES, data will be collected and assessed effectively and a safe repository for a sites land quality data will be maintained for the future. The information and tools available through IMAGES also enables site projects to be conducted more efficiently.
For example, you will be able to:
- Make informed decisions when it comes to land and groundwater quality
- Track works carried out and demonstrate land restoration progress on a site
- Ensure data and assessments are secure and transparent, which is vital for site projects, achieving delicensing (or other end- state) and stake holder communication
- Predict volumes for excavations and the likely nature of the excavated material into different waste categories
- Minimise delays caused by the discovery of unexpected contamination.
IMAGES can also improve communication of land quality information to stake holders by using visual tools to demonstrate and explain complex issues. IMAGES meets current best practice and environmental compliance in managing records associated with contaminated land such as that formulated by the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network.
IMAGES can be implemented at a number of scales to suit the needs of your organisation. UKAEA not only provide the software and maintenance of the system but can also provide a complete service including training, development and support with the implementation, including integrating IMAGES with existing database or GIS systems already in use.
