Research reactor fuel reprocessing plant

High enriched uranium (HEU) was a scarce commodity in the 1950s, and so spent fuel from the research reactors was recycled to recover the uranium for re-use.

Dounreay’s first fuel reprocessing plant was built in 1957, initially to recover the spent fuel from Dounreay’s Materials Test Reactor. Here, fuel pins were cropped and dissolved in acid to separate the uranium from them.

During its 40-year operating life, the plant also reprocessed fuel from research reactors in England, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Sweden, France and South Africa, as part of UKAEA’s commercial reprocessing activities.

The facility ceased reprocessing in 1996 and is now being decommissioned.  It is due to be demolished in 2010.

Decommissioning activities carried out to date include:

  • Strip out of the medium active stirrer well.
  • Aggressive wash out commenced of high active cell process vessel and pipework.
  • Pond clean up commenced and ongoing.
  • Removal of all the medium active cell sample gloveboxes.
  • Strip out of the north ground floor corridor change room and equipment storeroom
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Workers removing redundant cabling

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Image: Coring through the containment to weaken the walls and allows robots inside the cells to break up the reprocessing plant

Coring through the containment to weaken the walls and allows robots inside the cells to break up the reprocessing plant

Stripping out the south corridor

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Working in protective clothing

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