Dounreay
In the 1950s, the UK Government was persuaded to invest in the development of fast breeder reactors as a more efficient means of generating electricity from the country's scarce supplies of uranium. Following early research at Harwell in Oxfordshire, the Government in 1954 selected Dounreay in Caithness as the centre of research and development.
Three reactors, chemical plants and various laboratory and waste facilities were built there. The first nuclear reaction in Scotland occurred at Dounreay in a test cell in 1957 and the site's material test reactor was the first nuclear reactor in Scotland. The experimental fast breeder reactor, housed in a sphere, operated until 1977. In 1962, it became the first fast reactor in the world to supply electricity to a national grid, proving the concept.
A larger prototype fast reactor went critical at Dounreay in 1974, but hopes of commercial development of fast reactors in the UK receded in the 1980s. In 1988, the UK Government announced fast reactors would not be required for the foreseeable future. Reactor operations ceased at Dounreay in 1994 and reprocessing of irradiated fuel came to a halt in 1996 as a result of a plant breakdown which the Government in 2001 decided not to repair.
An audit of safety by regulators in 1998 proved a turning point in the history of the site, signalling the end of all nuclear operations and the beginning of the site closure programme. The original timescale for decommissioning of 100 years has been reduced steadily. Currently, the clean-out and demolition of all the redundant facilities is scheduled for completion by 2025. Hazardous intermediate-level waste will remain in secure, above-ground stores beyond this date pending a national policy for its long-term management. Access to areas of land contaminated with radioactivity is likely to be restricted until 2300. There is a debate about whether to retain the sphere as an industrial and architectural monument to the site's leading world role in the 20th century.
The major hazards at Dounreay today consist of the liquid metals used as coolant in the fast reactors and the liquid wastes generated from reprocessing. Other clean-up tasks include an unlined vertical shaft used to dispose of intermediate-level waste until an explosion in 1977 and radioactive particles polluting the nearby seabed and beaches.
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) manages the clean-up on behalf of the NDA. DSRL is part of UKAEA Ltd and is now owned by Babcock International. Annual turnover is approximately £150m a year and the site employs approximately 2000 people, representing one in every five jobs in the local economy. A partnership of public agencies has published an action plan to regenerate the local economy and end its dependence on the nuclear industry.
Read more about this topic: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority