Dounreay more likely to build up than knock down
People are being warned not to expect any of Dounreay’s former fuel or waste buildings to be levelled any time soon.
NRS Dounreay managing director Dave Wilson was responding to a query posed at the latest meeting of Dounreay Stakeholder Group (DSG).
Billy Sinclair, the former vice chairman of Thurso Community Council, asked: “When can we expect to see a difference in the skyline at Dounreay?”
Mr Wilson said none of the cluster of buildings deployed in the former fast reactor complex is slated for demolition in the next couple of years.
He added: “Skyline changes in the short term might be a building going up to store material.
“In terms of buildings coming down, that is not likely to be for a couple of years.”
DSG chair Struan Mackie said that was his understanding.
He said: “We’re more likely to see things being built than taken down. We need to be realistic about what the programme is going to be.”
The Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) was stripped out and decontaminated, ready for demolition by the mid 2010s.
The work to level Scotland’s oldest former operational reactor was put out to tender in 2018 and five firms were in the running to level it.
But the project was abruptly put on hold and has remained mothballed.
The DMTR was the first of Dounreay’s three fast reactors and operated between 1958 and 1969.
It was the first fast reactor in the world to provide electricity to a national grid.
No demolition work is included in the 2024-27 business plan for the site approved by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.