Jobs and Spending
How many people are employed at Dounreay?
Just under a thousand people are employed by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd and a similar number by a range of sub-contractors.
How much is the site worth to the local economy?
The site spends about £150 million a year. Of this, an estimated £80 million finds it ways into the local economy in salaries, services and pensions.
What proportion of the local economy does this represent?
Dounreay represents more than 10 per cent of the GDP of the north Highlands of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
One in every five jobs in Caithness and north Sutherland is based at Dounreay.
When indirect employment is included, almost one in every three jobs depends on Dounreay.
What will happen to these jobs?
As more of the site is cleared, fewer people will be needed to complete the task.
Employment is expected to have reduced significantly towards the end of the next decade. By 2025, when decommissioning is complete, only a few dozen people will be needed for ongoing duties.
What will this mean to the local economy?
In the absence of alternative economic activity, the local economy will shrink proportionately.
Community leaders want to maintain economic activity at its current level beyond the closure of the site. This means finding alternative income to replace that lost at Dounreay. The community, with support from the site and NDA, has formed a regeneration partnership, recruited staff and produced an action plan.
What are you doing to support this?
Programmes have been rolled out to staff to help them take control of their career options and plan for the day when the employment at Dounreay comes to an end. The options can include retraining and redployment, business start-up and employment elsewhere in the supply chain. These programmes are supported by Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Highlands and Islands Enterprise has opened an office at the site to give staff direct access to its range of services.
A number of services currently delivered in-house at Dounreay have been identified as potential business spin-outs capable of winning business from new customers elsewhere. Business plans are now being drawn up.
Money saved through greater efficiency is being made available to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to re-invest in socio-economic support for the area.
The site is supporting the NDA on projects such as the development of a tidal energy power station in the Pentland Firth.
Are additional resources available to help the economy?
Yes. The Scottish Government is making available an additional £12 million to Highlands and Islands Enterprise over three years.
The NDA has established the North Highland Regeneration Fund to provide support to business development.
