The nuclear plant worth saving

THOUSANDS of rare, tiny plants have been uprooted and replanted to avoid being damaged by the construction of a £100 million nuclear waste dump.

The habitat of the Scottish primrose – Primula scotica – is restricted to the northern shores of Caithness, Sutherland and Orkney, where it enjoys relatively mild winters and cool summers.

When experts came to draw up plans for a disposal site for low-level waste from the decommissioning and closure of the Dounreay complex in Caithness, they had to consider how to protect the plant.

The waste vaults were designed to avoid the endangered species, but it emerged yesterday that more than 2,000 plants had to be relocated to a safe area in a painstaking operation last month.

Graeme Morgan, project manager for Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL), the company in charge of the £2.6 billion clean-up of the nuclear site, said an environmental impact assessment carried out as part of the planning permission identified significant populations of Scottish primroses.

He said: “We have designed the new facilities to avoid, where possible, the main clusters of Scottish primroses.

“Where the buildings are likely to have a negative impact on these flowers, we decided to relocate them. We surveyed the area and identified over 2,000 plants for relocation.”

Local botanical field worker Karen Bell, of KB Environmental, was brought in to carry out the relocation.

The plants were carefully removed in the turf and repositioned in another area of coastal heath. They were then fenced off to prevent them from accidental damage during the construction.

Ms Bell said: “The Scottish primrose is an endemic species of international importance because it only grows here in Caithness, Orkney and Sutherland.

“The Dounreay site is one of the most significant populations of Scottish primrose in Caithness and as a result of the translocation project, the populations which were threatened by future construction works are now relocated within a protected habitat zone further east along the cliff top.”

Primula scotica is regarded by botanists as one of the most scarce and attractive plants in the world and its recorded sites have reduced significantly over the last 60 years.

A survey in 2009 showed it had disappeared from 75 spots where it once thrived on the north coast, although 19 new populations were also found.

The Dounreay work has been welcomed by Scottish Natural Heritage. The agency’s Caithness area officer, Tom Kellett, said: “[The primrose] typically flourishes on the cliff tops which are frequently subject to salt spray and within grazed areas which help prevent taller vegetation out-competing this tiny plant.

“The distribution of Scottish primrose is limited to localised areas of the coasts of Caithness, North Sutherland and Orkney, and is sensitive to pressures of development and changes in climate and habitat.”

The work is part of a programme at Dounreay to encourage endangered species to return to the site as buildings are demolished.

Last month it was revealed staff had captured on film the rare sight of two great yellow bumblebees mating on a patch of grassland that is flourishing as a nature reserve.

Other wildlife thriving at Dounreay will feature in a television series later this year. BBC TV naturalist Mike Dilger has found evidence of stoats and weasels as well as otters and birds such as the ringed plover, oystercatcher, common gull and Arctic tern.