Civil Engineering Contractors News
Dounreay's beach monitoring fleet has a new look with the addition of new vehicles - the Metrac H5 all-terrain vehicle (ATV). The H5s are fitted with the same GroundhogTM Evolution monitoring equipment as the current ATVs, so this is a change of looks but not a change of function.
The NDA estate's showcase event for suppliers is returning for a fourth year and is looking forward to welcoming even more visitors and exhibitors. More than 1,000 delegates from across the country attended the 2013 event, including existing supply chain members and decommissioning newcomers.
Dounreay’s owners have set out their priorities for decommissioning in a three-year business plan approved by Ministers. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which owns Dounreay and 16 other sites in the UK, has total planned expenditure across its estate for 2014/15 of £3.2 billion.
Wick Harbour Authority is making progress with its plans to create a heavy-lift facility on the commercial quay at Wick harbour, with contractors Gunns Lybster Ltd having now begun the work. The project, and its associated dredging works, was supported by CNSRP partners HIE and NDA respectively and is the first of several proposed phases of work to position the harbour as a key player in the energy sector, with the current focus being on potential to benefit from the development of Offshore Wind in the Moray Firth.
DSRL will be holding a supply chain briefing to give an update on future procurement opportunities at Dounreay. This event will be held on Wednesday February 12, 2014 in The Weigh Inn Hotel, Thurso, starting at 14:00 hours.
Craig Harvey (21) from Wick in the Highlands, has been crowned Scotland�s top Civil Engineering Apprentice of 2013 at the annual SBATC Apprentice of the Year awards. The title was presented to Craig at a special ceremony held on Tuesday 10th December at the Scottish Parliament.
Tomorrow (15 November 2013) The Highland Council launches a public consultation on the Dounreay Planning Framework 2: Draft Supplementary Guidance. The Highland Council approved the existing Dounreay Planning Framework in January 2006, as a land use development brief against which to regulate and control future decommissioning and restoration works proposed at the former nuclear power research site at Dounreay, near Thurso in Caithness.
A report published on Tuesday 5th November 2013 underlines how much work remains to be done at Dounreay before the site can be left in a safe condition for future generations. The Office for Nuclear Regulation Chief Nuclear Inspector's annual report says its inspection of the site will be at an �enhanced level� because of the continuing presence of major radiological hazards.
Dounreay�s radioactive impact on the environment continues to fall, according to a report. The annual survey report �Radioactivity in Food and the Environment� (RIFE 2012) has recently been published and it can be read here - http://www.sepa.org.uk/radioactive_substances/publications/rife_reports.aspx The report uses data obtained from samples of air, fresh water, grass, soil, and locally sourced meat, fish, milk and vegetables during 2012.
Dounreay�s parent body organisation � the consortium of international companies that owns and manages DSRL � is getting a new name. From October 28, the Babcock Dounreay Partnership will be known as the Cavendish Dounreay Partnership.
Dounreay's huge collection of historic documents will be among the first items to be stored in the new archive to be built in Caithness. The National Nuclear Archive is due to be open for business by 2016, said NDA's director for Dounreay, Nigel Lowe.
Twenty eight ambitious students, bringing fresh thinking and innovative ideas to businesses across the Highlands and Islands, are gathering to brush up on their skills for the world of work at a residential training course this week Monday 15 - Thursday 18 July. The students, who come from across Scotland to work for up to twelve weeks with local businesses, are part of the TalentScotland Summer Placement Programme managed by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).
JGC was founded in Thurso by the current Chairman Jock Campbell, who began supplying welding services to the NDA�s Dounreay site and the neighbouring Vulcan naval test base back in 1972. The company has since expanded into other sectors including oil and gas, becoming more specialised in the process, and now has an annual turnover of �10 million-plus, together with a workforce of 130 people.
AMC Engineering Ltd, whose head office is at Findon just outside Aberdeen, is set to expand their Caithness division by building a new workshop at their site outside Lybster, with the assistance of a grant of �76,250 from Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE). Managing Director Andrew Polson, who hails from Caithness and whose parents still live on the family croft at Smerlie next door to the company's workshops, explained that the skill and application of the local work-force was a key factor in deciding to site the new workshop in the north.
Scrap metal from the strip-out of the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) secondary sodium circuit cells is being re-used by UKAEA at the T3uk purpose built trials centre at Janetstown, on the outskirts of Thurso. The redundant steel sections, once used to support pipework within the cells, were identified for re-use to assist with other Dounreay decommissioning projects.
As a follow on from the affordable housing project O'Brien Construction Ltd designed at Manson's Lane, they are hoping to develop the Old Brewery Building into a further six social housing units. The Old Brewery is a category B listed building, built around 1798 in traditional Caithness flagstone rubble, which has been derelict and disused for many years.
The building enabling work for Caithness Horizons has begun, with the contract for the first phase of work being awarded by Highland Council to local firm MM Miller (Wick) Ltd. Caithness Horizons has held its first annual general meeting and is delighted to announce that directors Paul Cariss, the company's chairman, and Tina Wrighton of UKAEA have both been co-opted back onto the board.
A �2.5 million contract has been awarded to M M Miller (Wick) Ltd to construct the containment building needed to safely remove the last of the radioactive breeder elements from the Dounreay Fast Reactor. The contract has been let by ALSTEC Ltd on behalf of an alliance of companies working with UKAEA on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to remove the breeder from the sphere.
Part of the final phase of re-development of Forss Business & Technology Park. New Park Management recognises local expertise by awarding the contract for upgrading the Forss site electrical switchgear to JGC Engineering & Technical Services Ltd.
Photo shows, L to R:- Stewart Ganson, M M Miller (contractor), Chris Sinclair, Assistant Business Development Manager and Annemarie Monteforte, Business Development Manager, both CASE, Calum MacKenzie, Pentarq and Michael Smith, M M Miller. Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) is spending over �1.2 million creating two advance offices in Golspie and Wick in a bid to attract inward investors or to help indigenous companies to grow.