NDA showcases the positive impact of nuclear clean-up in Scotland
16 May 2018 02:29 PM
Guests at an event in the Scottish Parliament heard how work to decommission 3 of Scotland's oldest nuclear sites is taking huge strides forward and making a positive lasting impact in communities.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the government organisation responsible for cleaning up the legacy from the UK’s early nuclear industry, held an event for Scottish Parliamentarians, stakeholders and representatives of Scottish communities to explain the environmental and economic benefits of the UK’s nuclear decommissioning programme.
The NDA’s CEO, David Peattie, said:
The NDA’s 3 sites in Scotland have been at the leading edge of the UK’s nuclear industry for several decades, from Scotland’s first nuclear power station at Chapelcross, to the ground-breaking research at Dounreay and pioneering approaches to decommissioning and hazard reduction at Hunterston.
I am delighted to have had the opportunity to speak with such a diverse group of interested people about the NDA’s mission and the progress we’re making, but also about what we’re doing to leave a positive lasting legacy and support economic development, in partnership with the regeneration agencies, suppliers and local communities where we work.
The NDA’s nuclear decommissioning programme is worth £280 million a year in Scotland, with over £22 million going to 250 contracts with Small and Medium-sized (SMEs) companies based in every region of Scotland. 58 of the 73 Scottish parliamentary constituencies are home to SMEs providing goods and services to support nuclear decommissioning across the whole of the UK.
An important part of the NDA’s work involves mitigating the impact of its decommissioning programme on these communities, working with partner organisations to encourage economic sustainability after the sites finally close. Since 2006, a total of £15 million of funding from the NDA has gone to support economic development initiatives in Scotland, and this has unlocked a further £50million of matched funding.
NDA regeneration activities (since 2011) include:
Nuclear clean-up in Scotland
Almost 2,500 people working on NDA’s 3 Scottish sites.
Dounreay
Dounreay led British efforts to develop fast reactor technology in the 1950s. The last of 3 experimental reactors closed in 1994.
Dounreay is currently being dismantled and closed down.
Currently 2,000 people work at the site. This figure will shrink until the site closes in 2030-33.
Funding for 2017 to 2018: £189 million
Making the site safer by:
- removal and destruction of hazardous metal coolant from 2 reactors
- removing fuel elements that have been jammed for many years
- completing preparations to demolish the oldest reactor on site
- construction of underground vaults to dispose of Low Level Waste, in line with Scottish Government radioactive waste policy
- treatment, packaging and immobilisation of hazardous liquid waste that has been stored for 20 years
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