Caithness Map :: Links to Site Map Great value Unlimited Broadband from an award winning provider  

 

Year Of Progress To Decommission Dounreay

25th July 2006

Photograph of Year Of Progress To Decommission Dounreay

The first annual report on progress to decommission the former experimental reactor site at Dounreay is published today.

Dounreay Review 2005/06 has been produced by UKAEA, the body carrying out the safe clean-up and dismantling of the 140-hectare site.

Its publication covers the 12-month period since April 1, 2005, when UKAEA's clean-up role changed to that of a contractor to the new Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

The report outlines the key decommissioning achievements during the year as well as safety, environmental and financial indicators, and summarises the performance-based incentives that are used by the NDA to measure delivery and award fee.

Fourteen buildings were demolished, 18 laboratories cleaned out, 20 glove-boxes and 25 fume-cupboards removed, a shielded cell was decommissioned and 150 tonnes of sodium was destroyed.

Clean-up and dismantling work generated almost 250 drums of solid intermediate-level radioactive waste that were checked and consigned for storage, and over 5000 drums of solid low-level radioactive waste that were processed for disposal. In addition, 105m3 of liquid waste was successfully conditioned as solid intermediate-level waste before this work was interrupted by a spillage. A further 403 m3 of waste exempt from the
Radioactive Substances Act was generated and disposed of.

There were 10 Lost Time Accidents among the 2000 or so workers, with a maximum continuous period of almost two million man-hours without a LTA. There were 20 safety events, only one of which - the spillage in the waste treatment plant - was serious enough to be registered on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The highest radiation dose received by a member of staff was 3.26 mSv, which is 16 per cent of the annual legal limit, and the average radiation dose was 0.06 mSv.

Discharges of radioactivity to the environment were 13.25 per cent or less of the authorised limits for different radionuclides. Four radioactive particles were detected during monitoring of almost five million square metres of local beaches, and a further 41 were retrieved from the seabed.

UKAEA delivered the programme at seven per cent below budget and brought forward an additional £12 million of work from future years. Expenditure during the year was £145 million.

Dounreay Review 2005/06 can be downloaded
See Here
Hard copies can be obtained from the Communications Department, Dounreay
(tel: 01847 806080).

 

Related Businesses

 

Related Articles

Design Contract Awarded For Dounreay Shaft And Silo WorkThumbnail for article : Design Contract Awarded For Dounreay Shaft And Silo Work
Dounreay has awarded an important waste clean-up contract to Jacobs as the site plans for the future of its deepest historic radioactive waste store.   Jacobs and its supporting partners have been awarded a 6-year contract to provide a design management team to produce a fully integrated design for the shaft and silo project.  
Radiation dose to public from Dounreay reducesThumbnail for article : Radiation dose to public from Dounreay reduces
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.  
57,000 Tonnes Of Hazardous Materials Finally Dealt With At Dounreay
Dounreay today completed the destruction of one of the most hazardous legacies of Britain's earliest atomic research.  A purpose-built chemical plant processed the last of 57,000 litres of liquid metal lifted from the primary cooling circuit of the experimental fast breeder reactor.  
Dounreay Dome Paint Job ScrappedThumbnail for article : Dounreay Dome Paint Job Scrapped
Bosses at Dounreay agreed that they won't now be spending £500,000 on a repaint of the sphere.   They money saved will go instead towards actual decommissioning work.  
Clean-up Reveals 6000 Years Of Human HistoryThumbnail for article : Clean-up Reveals 6000 Years Of Human History
Getting rid of Britain's 20th century experiment with fast breeder nuclear reactors is illuminating the history of human settlement on Scotland's north coast stretching back 6000 years.   Archaeologists hired as part of the closure of the nuclear site at Dounreay have pieced together the legacy left by previous generations who occupied the site as long ago as 4000BC.  
New Report Lists Radioactive Wastes At DounreayThumbnail for article : New Report Lists Radioactive Wastes At Dounreay
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has published the latest edition of the UK's radioactive waste inventory.   This sets out the type and volumes of radioactive waste at sites such as Dounreay, as of April 1, 2010.  
Nuclear Shutdown Cash Boost For School Skills
Cash from the closure of the fast reactor site at Dounreay is set to breed a new generation of engineers and scientists in the Scottish Highlands.   The money from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority will fund half the cost of a £50,000 project to increase the number of school-leavers skilled in science, technology, engineering and maths.  
New Vaults Signal Start Of Waste ClearanceThumbnail for article : New Vaults Signal Start Of Waste Clearance
The clearance of tens of thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste from the redundant nuclear site at Dounreay today moved a step closer.   Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd announced the formal award of a contract to develop a disposal site for low-level waste from the decommissioning and closure of the site.  
Ex UKAEA Boss Appointed To Crown Estates Board
THE CROWN ESTATE REAPPOINTS CHRIS BARTRAM, AND APPOINTS DIPESH SHAH OBE AND ANTHONY WHITE AS NON-EXECUTIVE BOARD MEMBERS The Crown Estate has announced yesterday, 22 December 2010, the re-appointment of Chris Bartram and the appointment of Dipesh Shah and Anthony White as Non-Executive Board Members.   Chris Bartram, who has held the appointment as Crown Estate Board Member for four years has been reappointed for a further four year term with effect from 1 January 2011.  
Dounreay Boss Welcomed Funding Announcement
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd recently welcomed an announcement about how much public money will be available to continue nuclear clean-up in the UK.   DSRL manages the closure of the site on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which today confirmed that its total expenditure, including income generated, would be maintained at current levels of around £3bn a year.