Rubblization

Rubblization is a construction and engineering technique that involves saving time and transportation costs by reducing existing concrete into rubble at its current location rather than hauling it to another location.

Rubblization has two different applications. In road construction, specialized equipment is used to repave highways. The equipment drives along a lane of a highway and reduces the existing pavement into smaller pieces to create a crushed, high-quality aggregate base for the new pavement. This saves the expense of transporting the old payment to a disposal site and purchasing and transporting new base materials for the replacement paving. The result is a smoother pavement surface than would be obtained if a layer of asphalt were to be applied to the unbroken concrete surface. The technique has been used on roads since the late 1990s, and is also being used for concrete airport runways.

In nuclear energy regulation, "Rubblization" refers to a method for decommissioning a nuclear power plant. As with other decommissioning techniques, all equipment from buildings is removed and the surfaces are decontaminated. The difference with rubblization is that above-grade structures, including the concrete containment building, are demolished into rubble and buried in the structure's foundation below ground. The site surface is then covered, regraded and, landscaped for unrestricted use. This saves the expense of removing and transporting the building pieces to a different site.

External links

• Rathmann, Chuck (January 2000). "A Recipe for Rubblization". Road & Bridges. Retrieved 2010-01-02. 
• Wisconsin Department of Transportation (November 18, 2009). "Facilities Development Manual: Concrete Pavement Rubblization" (PDF). Retrieved 2010-01-02.