£100m Dounreay waste store plan wins approval

Published on Tuesday 23 January 2007 01:01

A £100 MILLION plant to treat radioactive waste at Dounreay has been given the green light.

It is hoped that work can start next year on the building - a key part of the 2.9 billion programme to decommission Dounreay by 2033. The construction phase is estimated to create about 120 jobs.

However, doubt remains on whether the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will release the funds to allow the work to start on time.

The new plant at the Caithness site will allow waste liquids - a legacy of reprocessing work presently stored in 5,500 underground tanks - to be solidified in cement and put in steel drums, using robots.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) will then store the material for up to 100 years, pending a national strategy for long-term storage or disposal of intermediate-level waste.

Highland Council planning officials had recommended approval of the facility, subject to conditions, and the council's Caithness-area planning committee yesterday approved outline planning permission.

However, there is a doubt over the money being made available next year due to cuts being implemented by the NDA to tackle an estimated 160 million shortfall in its 2.2 billion annual budget. That has been largely caused by a loss of anticipated income from the reprocessing plant at Sellafield, which has been shut since May 2005 after a major leak of nuclear fuel.

The NDA, which oversees 20 reactor plants being shut down, has asked site contractors to suggest projects that could be axed this year. It is feared that up to 500 posts could go at Dounreay if projects are delayed.

Colin Punler, spokesman for the UKAEA at Dounreay, said: "Eighty per cent of the radioactive waste hazard at Dounreay is contained within liquid waste stored underground. One of our priorities is to get that waste into a solid form that can be stored safely."

It is planned to start processing the liquid by 2012 and the project would be completed by 2017.

Meanwhile, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Highland Council, the NDA, the Scottish Executive and the local MP, John Thurso, have agreed a partnership structure to implement a plan to regenerate the local economy following the closure of Dounreay.