Dounreay News Index
Latest News On The Dounreay Web Site
Latest News Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
More Dounreay Items In Caithness Business Index
19
February 09
Hi-tech
"Worm" Probes Subterranean Pipeline
 A
hi-tech "worm" is probing a subterranean pipeline used to discharge
radioactive effluent from Dounreay between 1957 and 1992. The £100,000
pipe crawler has sent back video and radiation readings during its
five-day journey some 45 metres underground. The data will be analysed by
a project team investigating how to leave the disused system in a safe
condition as part of the site clean-up. A bundle of four cast iron pipes,
each 23cm in diameter, was laid in the 1950s to discharge effluent from
the fast reactor experiment.
Dounreay News -
16 October 08
Cementation Plant Up And Running Again
 Dounreay’s
cementation plant went back to work this year, following an extensive
remediation programme. The plant receives highly radioactive raffinate (a
liquid by-product of fuel reprocessing), and conditions it chemically,
before immobilising it in drums of cement, making it passively safe for
long-term storage. The whole procedure is carried out remotely inside
heavily shielded cells. The plant had been shut down in September 2005
following a spillage of raffinate and cement powder in the cell. There was
no release of radioactive material to the environment.
DSRL Announces A Change To The Senior Management
Michael Dunnett is to succeed Jerry Abbot as Head of Human Resources.
Countdown To Demolition For The Plutonium Criticality Laboratory
The last ventilation fan has been turned off for the final time in what
was once Dounreay’s dirtiest building.
Filter Idea A Crushing Success
Clever ideas are helping to improve ways of removing radioactive waste
from some of Dounreay’s dirtiest plants.
Largest Lab Comes Apart
Over a quarter of the laboratories in Dounreay’s Fuel Cycle Area, which
provided support to the whole of the site, have now been taken apart.
26 January
08
Dounreay Heritage To Be Preserved
 He might not think so today, but future generations
could regard James Gunn as the most important person ever to work at
Dounreay. For the former chemist and project manager has taken up
a new part-time role as the site's first heritage officer. His role is to preserve aspects of the site that will
give future generations a glimpse of life at Dounreay when the site itself
has long gone. Later this month, James will commission consultants to
draw up the site's first heritage strategy. An important and headline-grabbing part of the strategy
will be about whether to scrap the contaminated DFR sphere as part of the
site clean-up and demolition. But James says there is a lot more to the site's
heritage than just a giant steel ball.
24 May 07
Dounreay Not Listed As Possible Site For New Nuclear Power Station
Siting New Nuclear Power Stations - Availability and Options for
Government' by Jackson Consulting
The UK Government has set out, as part of its May 2007 consultation on
nuclear energy, a proposed process for a Strategic Siting Assessment (SSA)
of potential locations for new nuclear power stations. This would be
carried out only if the Government concludes following this consultation
that nuclear should continue to be part of our energy mix.
The report says that Dounreay is not an existing site of a power station
and is not considered to be a potential site for new power station
and that there are significant savings to be made if existing sites are
used. Also building plants near to the point of use show big
savings in transmission losses that private companies would want to reduce
overheads. An article in New Scientist -
"UK backs new generation of nuclear reactors" summarises the
latest thinking as set out in the paper linked above. It would
appear that Caithness cannot look to see a power station to replace any of
the jobs currently due to disappear due to the decommissioning of the
Dounreay site and other solutions will be required.
Energy White Paper
DTI
UKAEA
NDA
Take
part in consultation on the
Future
of Nuclear Power
Caithness Socio Economic Strategy Group
Dounreay Stakeholder Group
17
April 07
SUSPECTED RADIOACTIVE PARTICLE DETECTED AT MURKLE
A suspected radioactive particle was detected during monitoring of
Murkle beach on Monday 16 April 2007. It was removed and taken to Dounreay
for laboratory analysis. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency and
other interested parties have been informed. In 2005, a single particle
was detected during the monitoring of Dunnet Beach, which had been
recommended by the Dounreay Particles Advisory Group. As a result, UKAEA
undertook additional surveys of the nearby beaches at Murkle and Peedie in
2006, along with Dunnet again. No particles were detected. The Third
Report by the Dounreay Particles Advisory Group, published in November
2006, recommended that the three Dunnet Bay beaches should be monitored
annually and this is now underway.
22
February 07
New
Director to Drive Forward Dounreay Clean-up
 Simon
Middlemas has been appointed as the new Director of the nuclear
decommissioning site at Dounreay in succession to Norman Harrison. Simon
has been Acting Director since August 2006 and prior to that he was Deputy
Director. He joined Dounreay in 2004 as New Build Project Sponsor.
Welcoming the appointment, Norman Harrison , UKAEA's new Chief Executive,
said: "I am personally very pleased that Simon has been chosen as my
successor. He has an exceptional grasp of every aspect of decommissioning
at Dounreay and is totally committed to the site's success. He has already
made a major contribution to Dounreay's new focus on project delivery and
the recent site restructuring programme to prepare the site for
competition. I am sure his appointment will be widely welcomed by the
workforce and the community of Caithness."
26 January 07
Isolation Of Dounreay's Shaft Commences
 Dounreay
has started drilling up to 400 boreholes around the site's waste shaft in
the biggest step so far towards its eventual clean-out.
Grout will be injected through the boreholes to seal fissures in the rock
around the 65 metre deep shaft and so create a giant containment barrier
in the shape of a boot around the shaft that will isolate the radioactive
waste from groundwater. The project - the first of its kind in the world -
will prevent large volumes of groundwater flowing into the shaft during
waste retrieval and becoming contaminated. It will also reduce the risk of
leakage from the shaft in the interim.
Recent Photos From Dounreay
More About The Shaft UKAEA
On Caithness.org
UKAEA
In Caithness Business section
UKAEA Dounreay Web Site
Video Presentation On The Shaft
Dounreay News 2006
Archive
Dounreay News 2005
Archive
Dounreay News 2004 Archive
Dounreay News
2003 Archive
Dounreay News
2002 Archive
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UKAEA History - The First Fifty Years
19 February 07
Special Report On Nuclear Industry - Guardian
Dounreay.com
Dounreay Stakeholder Group - New Web Site
UKAEA
Dounreay Visitor Centre is closed.
Caithness
Horizons opened in December 2008 and holds a Dounreay Exhibition
Dounreay - Community And Economy
Dounreay - Socio Economic Development Plan 2005 - 06
Particle Finds In Caithness
Particles Section At UKAEA Web Site
Particles In Marine Environment Public Participation
Consultation On Dounreay Particles
Dounreay Site Restoration Plan Public Participation
Dounreay Publications
Dounreay Contractor Information
The Shaft
Nuclear
Industry Links
UKAEA History - The First Fifty Years
UKAEA History - Fast Breeder
Site Spend At Dounreay
Location Map and Getting There
Visiting - Site Requirements Access, deliveries,etc.
Jobs At Dounreay
Caithness
Horizons - New Visitor Centre Plans
Civil Nuclear
Constabulary Redesignated from 1 April 2005
Getting To
Dounreay
Nuclear Decommissioning
Authority
Took over responsibility for all nuclear
sites being decommissioned on 1 April 2005.
Glassblowing At Dounreay,
Caithness
 Although, sadly, no longer in existence, many will be familiar with the
setting up of the Caithness Glass Company in 1961, less will be aware that
glassworking existed in the county several years beforehand.
In September 1956 Caithness saw the arrival of the first glassblower at
UKAEA Dounreay.
11 August 05
NDA's Draft Strategy
More About Dounreay
Site Summary (file size 989kb)
Category Summaries
New Construction (file size
886kb)
Decommissioning & Termination (file
size 1.6mb)
Waste and Nuclear Materials Management (file
size 599kb)
Site Support (file size 1.2mb)
Support Services (file size
1.5mb)
Stakeholder Support (file size
1.9mb)
Revenue Income (file size 1.3mb)
Near Term Work Plan - all UKAEA Sites
Site Today
Site At Completion Of Decommissioning
This is just one possible scenario.
Other photos have been produced showing waste storage buildings.
Nuclear Industry News and
Links
Atomic Links On Caithness.org
Dounreay Past Present And Future
 The
importance of Dounreay to the county - its people and economy is now
extremely important. But it is the prospects of the work on
decommissioning that holds the key to the future prosperity of not just
Caithness but the wider area of the north of Scotland and beyond.
The increasing magnitude of the undertaking is beginning to be realised by
the whole country as very large contracts are being awarded. To
reflect the importance to the area Caithness.org has been granted access
to some historical photographs from the UKAEA archives for publication in
a new section. The historical pictures have been set up
in a gallery of their own and others will be added if they become
available.
Dounreay Fire & Ambulance Service
Over Dounreay Once Again
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