Graham's £100m deal to build Dounreay nuclear waste vaults

Published on Wednesday 12 January 2011 21:01

A NORTHERN Irish firm has landed a £100 million contract to design and build a giant nuclear waste facility at Dounreay in Caithness.

Graham Construction, which has its headquarters in Co Down and offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, was named preferred bidder after a competitive tendering exercise from a short-list of five companies.

About 100 jobs are expected to be created during the construction of the low-level radioactive waste store, with a quarter of the work likely to be sub- contracted to local firms.

The full contract is subject to regulatory approval but it is expected to be awarded to Graham by the end of March.

Construction would then begin this autumn and take about two years to complete.

Leo Martin, director at Graham Construction, said: "We are delighted to be announced as preferred bidder on this contract. This is a very important project for us, in a market sector which we are looking to expand into further."

The development is a core part of the infrastructure needed to complete the decommissioning and closure of the former nuclear research site.

The contract will see two sub-surface vaults being built for the disposal of solid low-level radioactive waste from the site clean-up.

Audrey Cooper, project manager for Dounreay Site Restoration, said: "The design stage of the work is an opportunity to improve the scheme and take into account valuable feedback from local stakeholders, while still working within the constraints of the planning consent.

"I expect the first two vaults to be completed by mid-2013, which is two years earlier than previously indicated."

Dounreay Site Restoration has planning consent for up to six vaults adjacent to the site but hopes to reduce the number that need to be built through "waste minimisation practices" in decommissioning.