The brakes put on the design of the proposed new waste plants have dashed hopes of a major shot-in-the-arm for the building trade.

The postponement of the projects will cost jobs, though management claims it should have a "minimal" effect on the site's permanent workforce.

The move has concerned union representatives who were looking forward to a mini-construction boom. The plants, needed to treat and store intermediate-level waste (ILW), would have needed a combined labour force of 400 over a six-year period.

A third major construction project, the new near-surface dump for solid low-level waste, is due to get under way in spring 2011 and employ 100.

A team of more than 20 had been deployed on preparations for a giant warehouse to store ILW created by the reprocessing of fast reactor fuel. Work on the three-year construction of the plant, named D3900, was programmed to start later this year.

Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) managing director Simon Middlemas has confirmed it has been shelved. Also put on hold is the building needed to recover waste from the site's underground shaft and nearby silo.

It comes on the heels of the recent announcement from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority that the site will have to operate on an annual budget of up to £150 million.

The plans for the three projects - costing an estimated £400m - were based on the site's funding from the quango peaking at around £220m.

Speaking at Wednesday's meeting of Dounreay Stakeholder Group, Mr Middlemas said: "The building of D3900 is just not affordable with a flatline budget of £150 million. Had we just ploughed ahead with it and the other plant, it would have meant we would have had to lay off something like 400 DSRL staff and some of the supply chain.

"With the country's current financial position, we realise we just can't afford it."

Mr Middlemas said an alternative option to build the D3900 in phases could be good news for Far North firms as it would be more likely they would be better able to bid for the contract.

He said the silo/shaft waste project was also being reconsidered in view of the new funding position. Management is also reviewing its programme on decommissioning redundant fuel and waste facilities, though Mr Middlemas said it remained committed to targeting the site's highest hazards.

He said it was liaising with unions on how any changes would impact on employment.

He said: "It will have an impact on jobs on the site though we expect this to be minimal."

Between 25 and 30 DSRL workers have taken early leaving terms in the past year, reducing the in-house workforce to just over 900 though there are a further 1000 contractors.

Dounreay union spokesman John Deighan said the postponement of the two plants is a major blow. He said: "We were counting on this work to help regenerate the construction trade. We believed it would lay a stable base for industry and re-employ some of those who have been laid off as result of the recession."

Mr Deighan added that the programme would also have given a boost to the area's service sector.

Alan Scott, vice-chairman of Caithness Contractors Consortium, said the postponement of the contracts was a blow to the construction trade.

* Community representatives in the Far North have meanwhile voiced fears about the commitment of funding for the nuclear archive earmarked for Wick.

Concern that the £15 million scheme could be hit by the major squeeze on public funding surfaced at the DSG meeting. While the design contract has been underwritten by the NDA, it has emerged the cost of construction has yet to be vouchsafed.

Derrick Milnes, who convenes the DSG's socioeconomic committee, asked: "With all the cuts that are being planned by the NDA, we want to know whether its future programme includes the money needed for building the archive?"

NDA Dounreay project manager Stuart Chalmers said that a firm of Edinburgh architects was currently working on the design of the complex. He said: "The funding for the design runs through to March 2011. We'd then be looking for the approval of funding for the next phase."

Mr Milnes said the issue needed to be broached with the Cumbrian-based quango, which is in charge of Dounreay's clean-up. We need to know the case they are putting forward to get the full funding.

"This is a project the community here have been looking at with the expectation that it was definitely going forward," said Mr Milnes, who chairs Thurso and Wick Trades Union Council.

"If it didn't proceed, it would leave a very big credibility gap on the part of the NDA."

Caithness West Community Council representative Anne Chard said she too thought the project had full funding approval.

She said: "I thought it was going to be built and not that it was going to be planned and then it was case of 'maybe we will and maybe we won't build it'."

Land near Wick Airport has been laid aside for the two-storey archive, which is due to employ 20.

It is intended to hold up to 30 million digital records, papers and photos, covering the history of the UK's civil nuclear industry since the 1940s.

It is also intended to be the new base for the local authority-run North Highland Archive.

Earlier, DSG members heard that the NDA has agreed to vary a funding pledge which was made last year to Wick Harbour Authority.

The port operators have been given permission to reallocate the £150,000 on plans to improve their ability to accommodate the needs of marine and offshore wind energy operators.

The NDA is expected to respond shortly to an application for support towards the major proposed redevelopment of Scrabster harbour.

iain-grant@ukf.net

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