Dounreay Bulletin - Issue 16

11th December 2006

PLUG REINFORCED TO ENABLE SHAFT TO BE DECOMMISSIONED
The second stage of the Shaft Isolation Project is complete and has achieved its objective.

A section of the liquid effluent discharge tunnel which passes close to the base of the shaft was required to be in-filled with grout in advance of the installation of the main shaft isolation barrier. The existing stub tunnel plug close to the base of the shaft was also reinforced as part of this operation. Work commenced on this stage of the project in August and has been completed on schedule. Following the completion of the grouting the project team carried out a series of tests to prove that the infill material had achieved its objective.

Trials are currently being carried out in the field trial area on extensometer boreholes. Extensometers are very sensitive measuring devices that monitor small movements within the rock during the injection of grout into fissures. Six sets of extensometers will be used around the shaft throughout the installation of the isolation barrier. This will provide the project team with enhanced data and give warning of any movement in the rock whilst grouting. The extensometers are sensitive enough to show movement in the rock similar to the thickness of a sheet of paper.

Subject to regulatory consents, the next stage of the project is to commence drilling the blocker holes around the shaft and commence grouting for the main isolation barrier. This is expected to commence in early 2007.

CONFERENCE TO EXPLORE SUSTAINABILITY OF DOUNREAY AND SELLAFIELD COMMUNITIES
Working in partnership was the key message heard at a conference in Preston on December 1 to explore the social and economic impact on communities of decommissioning Dounreay and Sellafield.

Speakers included David Flear, convener of the Caithness area of Highland Council, UHI Millennium Institute principal Prof Bob Cormack, George Reeves of the North Highland College UHI Decommissioning and Environment Research Centre and Norman Harrison, acting chief operating officer of UKAEA.

Those attending from the Caithness area included representations from Dounreay, Dounreay Stakeholder Group, Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise and the Highland Council. Information from the conference is available at http://www.westlakes.org/live/html/events/archive/suscom/suscom.htm.


LEARNING FROM BEST PRACTICE IN SCOTLAND'S CLEAN-UP INDUSTRY
Representatives from Chapelcross have visited Dounreay to learn about the site's contracting practices under a new initiative being fostered by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The NDA recently brought together representatives from its three clean-up sites in Scotland — Dounreay, Hunterston and Chapelcross — to look at ways of sharing best practice.

Dounreay's use of the NEC suite of contracts was identified as an area of best practice, and Alastair Stewart, project sponsor at Chapelcross, visited Dounreay to learn more about how it was used to support the construction of a new waste storage and transfer facility. Monica Hoey, UKAEA's head of commercial at Dounreay, said: "We can all learn from each other and identify things we can do better to provide the NDA with the highest possible standards of programme delivery and efficiency."

PUBLIC MEETING TO EXPLORE A COMMUNITY USE FOR VIEWFIRTH SITE
The Dounreay Stakeholder Group is holding a public meeting for all community organisations and individuals interested in seeing the land at Viewfirth, Thurso, redeveloped in community ownership. The meeting will take place at 7pm December 11 in the Pentland Hotel, Thurso.

The three-acre site currently forms part of the Dounreay estate and until earlier this year was occupied by the Dounreay Sports and Social Club. Structural problems in the former club building mean the property is likely to be demolished.

Meanwhile, a history of the site, from the construction of the Viewfirth house in the 1870s through to the demise of the club in 2006, is being compiled by Alistair Fraser, of the communications department at Dounreay, for publication next year. Alistair would like to hear from anyone with stories or pictures that could be included in the publication. He can be contacted on 01847 806084, or by email at alistair.fraser[AT]ukaea.org.uk

DOUNREAY PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP
Dounreay communications officer June Love was in Hungary on November 13 to take part in a workshop on building stakeholder confidence. The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence was created under a mandate for the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Radioactive Waste Management Committee to facilitate the sharing of international experience in addressing societal issues about radioactive waste management.

PROJECT MANAGER'S FORUM GETS UNDERWAY
A new initiative to improve project delivery got underway earlier this month when the first meeting of the Dounreay Project Manager's Forum took place. The forum will provide a no-nonsense approach to removing potential blockers to project delivery and aims to act as a means of developing and spreading good practice. Attendees are drawn from across all areas of the site on a rotational basis and the outputs from the meetings will be conveyed in a regular newsletter.

DOUNREAY STAKEHOLDER GROUP VISITS HUNTERSTON
Representatives of the Dounreay Stakeholder Group visited Hunterston last week as part of ongoing efforts to share best practice between Scottish site stakeholder groups. They attended the Hunterston stakeholder group meeting and visited the site. Alastair MacDonald, chairman of the Dounreay group, said: "These exchanges are essential to ensure that best practice in areas of stakeholder involvement is shared between the NDA sites, especially the Scottish ones. There are a lot of similar issues with regard to site operations and the impact of the decommissioning programme, and we need to ensure that we share our best practice and learn from what others are doing. Chapelcross and Hunterston representatives have accepted an invitation to Caithness in the new year and I look forward to continuing to develop these relationships."

NEWSPAPER RETRACTS PARTICLE CLAIM
On September 4, the Daily Telegraph reported inaccurately that official advice had been issued not to take children onto the beach at Sandside because of the risk from particles. UKAEA raised this and other inaccurate statements in the article with the journalist and the newspaper but received no response. Following intervention by the Press Complaints Commission, the Telegraph retracted this statement in a correction published in its November 14 edition which stated: "Independent public bodies have advised that the risk to beach users at Sandside is very low and no official advice has been issued against the use of the beach by anyone, including children."

FOOD FOR THOUGHT
UKAEA has sponsored a local charity, Food for Thought, based in Spittal, Caithness, which works with adults with learning needs to produce salad and vegetable crops using non-chemical methods.
http://www.caithness.org/foodforthought/index.htm