A workforce that can safely deliver the decommissioning and demolition of Britain's fast reactor experiment at Dounreay is a workforce that will be in demand worldwide for its skills. This is the message delivered today by Norman Harrison, director of UKAEA Dounreay, in a new publication setting out the benefits of accelerated clean-up of the site and the efforts being made to find alternative employment for staff whose jobs presently depend on this work.
The following are funds approved up to the last day of the month. Please note that the sums relate to approvals, not payments.
FORMATION OF SITE LICENCE COMPANY AT DOUNREAY Over the coming weeks and months, UKAEA will be restructuring itself. The purpose of this is two-fold - to enable the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to take ownership of its decommissioning sites and put their future management out to competition, and to enable part of UKAEA to be vested as a commercial bidder for this and other work.
The MOD has just awarded ABSL Power Solutions Ltd (ABSL) and QinetiQ Ltd (QinetiQ) a contract to mature technology for the next generation of portable power systems. The contract, worth up to £5 million was awarded for up to three years, follows an open competition under the UK MOD's Technology in the Supplier Base (Output 6) research programme and will be managed within the Dismounted Close Combat Integrated Project Team (DCC IPT).
Caithness Horizons recently held a stakeholder workshop to bring together all its funders, partners and local stakeholders. Paul Cariss, Caithness Horizons Chairman, welcomed everyone to the event and thanked them for their support so far and gave a presentation outlining the projects progress to-date.
The Government is planning to 'get tough' on the use of cars for business. It's time to find new ways to keep in touch, says Andrew Pearce The Government is committed to reducing greenhouse gases by 12.5 percent by 2008, and one 'sustainable policy initiative' is to discourage the use of cars to attend business meetings.
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.
£3.8M CLEAN-UP PLANT COMES INTO SERVICE A £3.8 million plant has commenced active commissioning ready to clean up effluent from the next phase of decommissioning Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor. The new plant will clean up effluent that comes from the dismantling of the old effluent treatment plant, decontamination of redundant components from PFR and the liquid effluent from the buffer store pond.
Sheila Elder of Thurso, Caithness has launched a new giftware webshop and was ecstatic when confidence in her products was shown by her first retail order of 10,000 cards was received. The aim is to allow greater access to her products by the public through the launch of the webshop though.
Mey Selections beef and lamb, which is available in a growing number of Sainsbury's stores, was the focus of a special training day, held last week at the Park Lane Marriott Hotel in London, for the company's meat buyers, counter and fresh foods managers. Over 50 Sainsbury's senior counter staff, buyers and food technologists heard Justin James, the company's category manager for meat, say that the supermarket group was fully committed to promoting the brand.
Confined space working; the very term brings a sense of caution to those who have to work in such an environment, and also to those responsible for the safety of personnel. It conjures up images of working in tight, ill-lit, underground areas, ducts and passageways.
A new beef specialist, Ian Pritchard, is due to join Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) at its Thainstone Office, near Inverurie, on 13 June. This new post has been established by SAC to further strengthen its services to beef farmers in the north and north-east of Scotland.
Today the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) announces its agricultural waste roadshows to help the farming community and its suppliers comply with new waste management controls. 98% of holdings are already re-using at least one type of waste, but 72% are storing waste with no plans to use it.
Support for Highland 2007 is growing within the business community as a further three organisations become official partners to the year Scotland celebrates Highland culture. The three, Macdonald Aviemore Highland Resort, Highlands and Islands Airports Limited and First Scotrail are each contributing a substantial package of in-kind promotional support.
A report going to The Highland Council's TEC Services Committee on Thursday (I June) will show that following the introduction of the ban on smoking in enclosed places, the enforcement strategy adopted by the Council, has been effective, and compliance by businesses and customers in Highland has been extremely high. Councillors will be told that of the 778 premises inspected so far, 572 have been found to be fully compliant and the remaining 206 required advice in meet the strict requirements of the legislation.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has adopted an invaluable database which will not only assist in building up a true picture of the extent of fly-tipping, but help track those who illegally dump waste. Fly Capture is an electronic system which records the amount and type of waste illegally fly tipped in Scotland.
Future visitors to Caithness and Sutherland will benefit from the hard work and achievements of 11 newly-qualified professional Tourist Guides. The successful candidates were presented with their Scottish Tourist Guides Association (STGA) Affiliate certificates and badges at a recent awards ceremony at the Portland Arms Hotel, Lybster.
SAC has been awarded nearly £152,000 by the European Social Fund (ESF) and Highlands and Islands Enterprise to fund the continuation of a training project in the highlands and islands area. The renewed funding will support the project from August 2006 to July 2007.
A year of remarkable progress in the economy of the Highlands and Islands has significantly enhanced the area's potential to become one of the best regions in the world to live, work, study and visit. That was the message from William Roe, chairman of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) today as he announced the agency's performance against targets for the financial year 2005-06.
The Highland Council, along with Morrison Construction and Tulloch, have announced that the PPP2 Contract recently signed between the Council and Alpha Schools will lead to increased employment and training opportunities for young people across the Highlands. The agreement that has been concluded will see the two companies increase the number of apprentices and trainees in the construction industry.
