Dounreay nuclear fuel set to be taken from Scotland by train

RADIOACTIVE fuel from a decommissioned nuclear site is to be removed from Scotland by train, under plans from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA).

The NDA want to use special freight trains to carry tonnes of nuclear fuel from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria. The material will be reprocessed and stored at Sellafield, which is better placed to deal with the material.

It will take between four and five years to move the material, which comes from the site’s two breeder nuclear reactors.

Forty-four tonnes will be moved in about 40 journeys between Scotland and Cumbria.

Dounreay was closed in 1994, and work is continuing to decommission the site.

The NDA will now need regulators to approve the plans before they start moving the nuclear fuel.