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29 July 04
MINISTER OPENS LEAD CENTRE FOR DECOMMISSIONING SKILLS

Scotland’s  newest  centre  for  teaching the skills needed to clean up the country’s nuclear heritage was officially opened today at Dounreay.

Deputy  Enterprise  and  Lifelong Learning Minister Lewis Macdonald visited the leading edge of Britain’s nuclear clean-up programme to set the seal on a £300,000 investment by UKAEA.


Colin Gregory, Head of Nuclear Strategy &
Technology; Lewis Macdonald; Norman Harrison, Dounreay Director

The Learning, Education and Development (LEAD) Centre provides high-quality training   and   skills  opportunities  for  employees  of  UKAEA  and  its contractors  at  Dounreay  and  other  nuclear  sites  in  the UK now being decommissioned.

The  LEAD  Centre  is the latest in the series of investments by the public and  private  sectors  in  the  northern Highlands that is establishing the area’s  reputation  as  a  centre of excellence in skills and enterprise in nuclear decommissioning.

Run  by a team of 21 staff, the LEAD Centre provides a range of courses and development  opportunities  for  decommissioning  workers  to  expand their skills.  Courses  range  from  compulsory  site  induction  to  IT, project management, industrial and radiological safety and graduate development.

UKAEA  Dounreay  director  Norman  Harrison  said:  “UKAEA has successfully decommissioned  more  of  its  country’s  nuclear  reactors  than any other organisation  in  world  and  it  is essential we continue to invest in the skills  and  education  of  our  people  if we are to maintain that leading international edge.

“Restoring  the  environment  of  a  site as complex as Dounreay is UKAEA’s biggest  challenge  yet.  This  investment underlines UKAEA’s commitment to establishing  Dounreay and Caithness as the leading centre for training and development in the skills we need, not just here at Dounreay but throughout the UK as well.”

During  2003/04,  the  LEAD  Centre  staff  delivered over 6000 man-days of training,  representing  an  average  of  five days training each for every employee at the site. The centre also works closely with the North Highland College/UHI  Millennium  Institute  to provide further and higher education opportunities on a day-release and evening class basis.

Lewis  Macdonald, Deputy Minister for Enterprise, said:  “I am delighted to have  been  asked  to open Scotland’s newest training facility at Dounreay. The  establishment  of this Learning, Education and Development Centre will provide  high  quality  training  and skills opportunities for employees of UKAEA.

“This continuing investment at the Dounreay site reflects confidence in the economic  future  of  Caithness  and  particularly the significant business opportunities   becoming   available   with   expansion   of   the  nuclear decommissioning sector.

“To  continue to build and maintain a skilled workforce we must ensure both adults  and  young people have the opportunities and encouragement to learn and  develop  throughout  their  lives,  and  I  am  glad  that  UKAEA have recognised  this  by  providing  training and development opportunities for their staff.”

Notes
Dounreay was Britain’s centre of fast reactor research and development from 1955 until 1994. Three nuclear reactors, fuel reprocessing and other associated nuclear facilities were built and operated on a 140-acre site. The site is now being decommissioned at an estimated total cost in the region of £4 billion. The decommissioning programme is prioritised towards reducing and eliminating the greatest hazards first.

Decommissioning Dounreay is worth approximately £80 million a year to the economy of the Highlands in general and Caithness and north Sutherland in particular through nett salaries, pensions, contracts and sub-contracts.

One in five jobs in Caithness and north Sutherland depend on decommissioning.  Across Scotland, it accounts for 2,930 jobs.

A former three-storey office block known as D8538 has been converted to create the LEAD Centre. It replaces the Dounreay Education and Training Centre, which is being demolished as part of the decommissioning of the nearby PUMA criticality test cell. The conversion work was carried out by
M.M. Miller, Wick. A suite of eight training rooms are named after landmarks of Caithness and North Sutherland.