Dounreay Demolishing 100 Square Feet A Day

11th May 2010

Dounreay is being demolished at a rate of 100 sq. ft. every day, new figures reveal.

Another 14 buildings with a total floorspace of almost 30,000 sq ft were flattened during 2009/10.

This takes the total area of property cleared under the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority's ownership of the site to more than 178,000 sq ft, or 4.1 acres.

More than 160 redundant structures and buildings have been removed from the skyline since the start of decommissioning, with more than 60 cleared in the period since 2005 when the NDA was formed.

The list of properties that have disappeared includes some of the most radiologically contaminated buildings found anywhere in the UK

These include a suite of cells contaminated by experiments with plutonium liquors and a plant where research reactor fuel was manufactured using highly-enriched uranium.

Steve Beckitt, head of decommissioning at Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd, said: "These figures reflect the pace of the site clean-up and closure.

"Floorspace equivalent to a small room has disappeared every single day at Dounreay for the last five years.

"We still have a lot of work left to do before we can clear away what remains but these figures show the progress that's being made since the NDA took over responsibility for the site."

A list of the buildings demolished so far can be found at www.dounreay.com/decommissioning/demolitions