RRFM 2009 Transactions - European Nuclear Society

DECOMMISSIONING PROGRESS OF THE DOUNREAY SITE.
ELIZABETH MACKENZIE
Fuel and Waste Strategy Manager,
Waste Services Unit, Dounreay, Caithness, Scotland, KW14 7TZ
ABSTRACT
Dounreay was at the centre of fast reactor research in the UK for over four decades however now it
has moved into a new phase of its life and leading the way in reactor and nuclear facility
decommissioning. The experimental nature of the many of the facilities means that clean-up and
demolition requires innovation as well as great care. Over 180 facilities were built on the Dounreay
site which covers over 140 acres.
DSRl are currently managing the decommissioning of the facilities and managing the waste and fuel
leagacies on the site. This paper gives an overview of the work being carried out to deliver the work
programme and how the fuel and waste is expected to be managed during its lifetime.
1 Introduction
Dounreay was at the centre of fast reactor research in the UK for over four decades however
now it has moved into a new phase of its life and is leading the way in reactor and nuclear
facility decommissioning. The experimental nature of the many of the facilities means that
clean-up and demolition requires innovation as well as great care. Over 180 facilities were
built on the Dounreay site which covers over 140 acres on the north coast of Scotland.
A number of facilities and buildings have already been demolished and work is moving
forward at a significant pace with contaminated areas being removed and the resulting waste
being conditioned and treated. This paper outlines the challenges of dealing with the variety
of wastes created during the work.
The treatment of the fuels which remain on the site will also be discussed in this paper and
the site is working with NDA (Nuclear Decommissioning Authority) to develop a United
Kingdom strategy for the treatment and long term storage of the irradiated and un-irradiated
fuels.
Dounreay began construction in 1954 and eventually stopped supplying power to the grid in
1994. It has had various milestones during its history including
1957 – First nuclear reaction in Scotland takes place criticality test cell at Dounreay,
1961 – Dounreay becomes first fast reactor in world to supply power to grid,
2004 – MTR fuel fabrication ceases.
Decommissioning commenced following the cessation of reprocessing in 1996 although it
was quite limited at that time and was expected to take in excess of 70 years.
UKAEA formally published its first plan to return the site to a brown field site in 2000 and is
now continually refining the timescales, the current completion date is 2025. At this point all
that will remain on site are conditioned waste stores and a nuclear material store.
Dounreay has consulted the local stakeholders on the end state of the site and have an
agreed brown field conditions for the site to be left in along with key facilities that will be
required. The long term future and retention of the Dounreay Fast Reactor dome is still
uncertain as discussion is ongoing with Scottish Heritage. It is after all a key historical
building in Scottish history.
The current estimated cost to complete the decommissioning of the site is £2.5billion.
Just as Dounreay lead the world in research reactors it is now leading the world in
decommissioning and removing some of the most challenging facilities. This paper gives a
flavour of the work currently being undertaken at Dounreay and some of the challenges yet
to be undertaken.
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