Nuclear plant decommissioning timetable brought forward

The timescale to finish decommissioning the Dounreay nuclear plant in Scotland has been brought forward by 13 years, its operator announced today.

A new management team and a £313m (€469m) clean-up programme have meant the work will now be finished by 2047, said the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

The former experimental reactor establishment in Caithness is being decommissioned at an estimated total cost of £4bn (€6bn).

It was also announced earlier this week that the facility had manufactured its last batch of nuclear fuel.

Dounreay site director Norman Harrison, said: “Nobody in western Europe has more experience of managing the safe decommissioning of nuclear sites than UKAEA.

“This is underlined by the commitments we have made to the government to accelerate the decommissioning of Dounreay in a way that continues to be safe, secure and environmentally responsible.”

He added: “The job we have started at Dounreay has generated new business opportunities for companies in Caithness and Sutherland to become expert in the skills in decommissioning and has attracted some of the world’s largest engineering, environmental and project management companies to this area.

“It is good news for the environment and it is good news for local contractors.”

The accelerated programme, contained in a Near Term Work Plan, has been submitted by UKAEA to the Department of Trade and Industry as well as its successor body, the proposed Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The plan includes speeding up the immobilisation of hazardous liquid waste, the destruction of more than 1,000 tonnes of hazardous liquid metal used as reactor coolant and the isolation of the waste shaft four years earlier than previously forecasted.