£4million Community Fund After Low Level Waste Facility Approved

22nd March 2009

Approval for the construction of Dounreay's low level waste disposal facility has secured £4M for a community fund package.

A working group, set up by the Dounreay Stakeholder Group (DSG), has helped to pave the way to secure the funding which is envisaged will be used to develop social infrastructure project in the Dounreay Travel to Work area.

£1M will be made available in 2011 when construction begins with instalments of £300K per year as soon as the facility becomes operational which is expected to begin in 2014.

A body to administer the funds will be established and is expected to have representation from the community, DSRL and NDA and will be consistent with NDA?s socio economic policy.

Bob Earnshaw, chairman of the DSG working group said, "We are pleased With the community package that has been agreed. The working group worked for over 18 months to explore the potential for community funding for the facility and we believe this is a good result for the area. There has been a lot of discussion with various people including John Thurso, representatives from NDA and DSRL and we are extremely grateful for the hard work they have committed to reach an agreement."

Alastair MacDonald, DSG chairman added, "Credit must be given to the working group for their efforts in raising this issue and to all those involved in getting to this stage. There is still a lot of work to do and we look forward to working closely with the Highland Council, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to identify and set up a trust body who will be responsible for administering the funds."

John Thurso.MP said "The Dounreay site has, for more than 50 years, served the UK in research and development of fast reactor technology. The low level waste is a legacy of that service and the community fund recognises this."

Randall Bargelt, NDA's programme director, said, "The fund will make an important contribution to delivering the socio-economic objectives for the area, and we aim to ensure that it delivers sustainable benefits in line with our socio-economic policy."

Simon Middlemas, Managing Director for Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd added "Getting the planning approval for the low level waste facility is a major step forward for our decommissioning programme. The NDA and site were both supportive of putting some form of community fund in place and we are pleased that there is potential benefit for everyone."