Nearby homes to be outside of Dounreay emergency zone for first time
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Residents closest to Dounreay and Vulcan are for the first time to be excluded from the emergency planning zone around the redundant nuclear sites.
It is being shrunk to reflect the perceived reduction in risk to the public presented by the adjoining plants.
The zone would be the focus of the response to what is considered a worst-case scenario involving a radiation release.
Up until the plug was pulled on Dounreay's fast reactor programme in the mid-1990s, its zone extended to five kilometres. The equivalent at Vulcan was two kilometres.
Dounreay's limit was subsequently cut to 1.5km and reduced further in 2020 when a new linked zone taking in both sites was set at 700 metres.
Now a review overseen by Highland Council's resilience team has dropped the so-called Detailed Emergency Planning Zone (DEPZ) further to 630m.
It might seem a small cut but by moving the boundary north of the A836, it excludes the dwellings in the small settlements of Buldoo and Upper Dounreay.
The review team notes: "We identified worst case accident scenarios resulting in a 630m minimum radial zone from high hazard areas.
"This moves the possible impacts of an incident suitably north of the A836, such that the Dounreay DEPZ can be reduced substantially.
"This new DEPZ effectively comprises mainly fields and a small number of outbuildings."
The new zone, which was consulted on with emergency services and the site operators and approved by the Office for Nuclear Regulation, is to go live on November 1.
The further reduction reflects a perceived reduction in the hazard presented by the plants as a result of the ongoing removal of fuel stockpiles over the past three years.
The zone would be activated when an accident at one of the plants involved a release of radioactivity which breached the 1milliSievert threshold dose to members of the public.
The resilience team say it is "possible though unlikely" that the DEPZ may need to be widened in the future to accommodate future projects in the clean-ups of the sites.
Operators of both Dounreay and Vulcan do not envisage this being required.
The team adds: "None of these planned changes are expected to materialise until at least five to 10 years from now.
"Such timescales are considered to be of suitable length such that in the unlikely event the DEPZ did need to be extended again, the change could be suitably managed."
Locals can request to be updated about any future changes.
When the sites were operational, plans were in place to distribute iodine tablets to people within the zone but that is no longer thought necessary since both are now in decommissioning mode.
