Fears of delay to Dounreay decommissioning on the horizon

Dounreay's operators are expected to reveal a significant extension to the expected completion date for the decommissioning of the site.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) is reviewing the processes and timescales behind the demolition of the experimental fast reactor complex.

And this week a seasoned Dounreay watcher raised fears that some buildings on the site could end up being "stuck in mothballs".

Roger Saxon believes the current deadline of 2033 is unachievable and is concerned momentum with the clean-up has been lost.

Mr Saxon, a former chairman of Dounreay Stakeholder Group, is concerned local firms have found work from the plant drying up in the wake of delays with three major clean-up projects.

The estimated date for the "interim end state" – when the cluster of fuel and waste plants will be cleared – has varied wildly since the plug was pulled on the last reactor in 1994.

The first Dounreay site restoration plan in 2000 envisaged a £4 billion clean-up taking until 2063 – supplanting an initial estimate of a 100-year programme.

A Babcock-led consortium then took over the running of the site in 2012 with a £1 billion blueprint to have the site decommissioned as early as 2022.

After the latter's contract was wound up early, Dounreay has, since April 2021, been directly run by the NDA.

Information in a newly lodged planning application appears to add substance to the belief that the quango is set to extend the end-date.

Site licence company Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) says the replacement primary discharge stack for Dounreay's prototype fast reactor (PFR) will be required "for the remainder of decommissioning the PFR building, estimated at 20 years (2043)".

The latest NDA business plan projects the PFR being dismantled in 2027 and Dounreay's interim end state achieved in 2032/33.

Mr Saxon, a retired nuclear consultant at Dounreay, believes the current timescale is unrealistic.

"I think it's a bit like the Scottish Government's schedule for dualling the A9 between Inverness and Perth," he said. "They kept with the 2025 date when it's obvious for a long time that could not be met.

"They stuck with it and stuck with it only to recently announce that it was not achievable."

Mr Saxon pointed to the significant hold-ups with the plan to empty the site’s notorious underground waste shaft and nearby silo.

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• Plea to decide on future use of Dounreay site post-decommissioning

More recently, he pointed to delays with three other major projects – the DMTR reactor, the D2008 floc building and the low-level waste pits.

He said: "My take on it is that every time they have any type of organisational change, a big reset button is pressed and next to nothing gets done for a year."

He added: "There's a lot of concern in the area about the lack of work that is going on.

"At present, the prospects for local firms getting work from Dounreay is bleak to say the least."

Mr Saxon is concerned that the clean-up of the site will be downgraded once the buildings are stripped of their highly radioactive inventory of fuels and waste.

"The worry is that we will get to a point when they have got rid of all the fuel and the sodium, some buildings will be left.

"I don't think it is worth getting hung up on having an exact end date. We just want to see progress and an assurance that the buildings are not going to be stuck in mothballs."

A DSRL spokesperson said: "The new long range decommissioning plan is under review and is going through governance and assurance verification and will be communicated once approved.

"We are on target to do this in accordance with previously communicated timescales.

"More information on the new plan will be shared in due course."

DSRL has previously indicated the review will be completed by April next year.

Asked about the 2043 date for the PFR building, the spokesperson said: "The dates provided when submitting planning applications to Highland Council are estimated within a range to allow us to fulfil our obligations."