D1123 sea water pump house

The seawater pumphouse was built in the 1950s on a coastal outcrop below the Dounreay Fast Reactor.

Over the next 20 years, it provided some 182 billion gallons of seawater to the reactor. The 20-metre high building became redundant when the reactor was shut down in 1977.

Strip-out of redundant pumping plant and ancillary equipment was undertaken, followed by building surveys and isolation, enabling controlled demolition to be carried out by Lybster-based
contractor John Gunn and Sons in 2003.

Project manager Tony Moore said: “The pumphouse was built on the coast and its precipitous position presented the potential for problems over and above those associated with conventional demolition work. It is a testimony to the professional planning and execution of the complex task that it has been carried out successfully without incident.”

In 2007, following discussion with SEPA and Crown Estates, the landscape was remediated to a flat plain protected by a wall of armour rock.

 

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Image: The seawater pumphouse at DFR

The seawater pumphouse at DFR

Image: Demolition of D1123

Demolition of D1123

Image: The pumphouse being demolished

The pumphouse being demolished

Image: The ground is capped where D1123 once stood

The ground is capped where D1123 once stood