Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd

Landfill 42

Dounreay developed and operated its own landfill for the disposal of waste from building works.

Records show waste was being deposited to the landfill adjacent to the site as long ago as the early 1960s. It was used for the disposal of material arising from ground excavations and building demolitions throughout the operation of the site.

The landfill is located outwith the licensed site, beyond the eastern perimeter.

The earliest record of external regulation of the site dates from August 1992 when Highland Regional Council granted planning permission to the UK Atomic Energy Authority for the disposal of “excavated material, including soil, rock and old concrete etc” at Landfill 42. This consent was granted for 10 years and extended in August 2001 for a further 10 years, with a condition that the ground is reinstated at the end of the period.

A licence for the continued disposal of waste to Landfill 42 was granted by Caithness District Council in November 1992. This was modified in 1999 after the Scottish Environment Protection Agency inherited the licensing duties.

The UK Atomic Energy Authority deposited an estimated 70,000m³ of material at Landfill 42 until 2005.

The seaward face of the landfill was reprofiled during the 1990s and moved further away from the sea. This work revealed the presence of some radiological contamination. Further examination of the landfill over a number of years identified the presence of material that is no longer considered inert, including metals, wood and fragments of asbestos.

The radiological contamination is thought to have been transported in contaminated soil dug up during construction work at the nuclear site before 1975. In 2006, the UK Atomic Energy Authority pleaded guilty at Wick Sheriff Court to the unauthorised disposal of radioactive waste and was fined. The charge related to small amounts of material and the landfill as a whole is not considered radioactive waste.

In 2006, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency served a closure notice on the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd is now responsible for the closure and restoration of Landfill 42 on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

DSRL submitted its closure plan to SEPA in December 2010. The plan proposes to excavate and reposition approximately 16,000m³ of material to achieve a stable landform further from the sea.

The waste will be covered with an impermeable membrane. Approximately 25,000 tonnes of rock will be used to cap the site and protect the seaward face of the landfill.

DSRL sought advice from Scottish Natural Heritage about the most appropriate surface finish and is proposing a top layer of gravel and shingle suitable for nesting birds such as artic tern.

Subject to regulatory and other consents, the work is expected to be complete by the end of 2011 and cost £1-2 million. Periodic monitoring for gas, groundwater pollution and other checks will continue after completion of the restoration works.

DSRL will continue to require a waste management licence for the facility until such time it can demonstrate the facility does not represent a hazard.

Public access will continue to be restricted. The site is within the general area of land now being developed for the construction and operation of a repository for low-level radioactive waste from decommissioning the site. Access to this area is expected to be restricted for 300 years after use.

Rock excavated during construction of the waste disposal vaults may be used for the restoration works at the landfill, if tests show it is suitable for this purpose.

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£2m closure plan for site landfill - January 2011