Lifetime Plan
All of the work needed to dismantle Dounreay is contained in a long-range programme called the Lifetime Plan. This sets out the scope of work, the schedule and its cost. It also identifies the manpower needed to see the clean-up through to completion.
Every site owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority produces a similar plan each year, and this allows the NDA to prioritise spending on the biggest hazards.
The major hazards at Dounreay are the liquid metals use to cool the two fast reactors and waste liquors from historic reprocessing of fast reactor fuel.
Lifetime Plan 07, agreed with the NDA, proposed to complete the decommissioning by 2032.
Lifetime Plan 08 accelerated this work, with a new completion date of 2025.
This is the point at which all the redundant facilities have been demolished and the waste made safe for long-term storage or disposal. The estimated cost of this (2009) is £2.6 billion.
Beyond 2025, intermediate-level waste will be held in secure stores at the site pending decisions about its long-term management. Controls on access to areas of contaminated ground are expected to remain in place until 2300.
The clean-up is funded by the UK Government through the NDA and is regulated by statutory bodies such as the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate of the Health and Safety Executive and the Office of Civil Nuclear Security. They publish regular reports about their work at Dounreay.
Lifetime Plan - research and development programme from 2009
The ventilation stack is installed at DFR in 1957
Dounreay's Prototype Fast Reactor
The ventilation stack at DFR is replaced for its decommissioning
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