News Room
July 01, 2008
2025 vision of Dounreay's waste is published
Dounreay today paints the most vivid picture yet of how the site will look once decommissioning is complete in 2025.
June 30, 2008
Public meeting on low-level waste disposal plan
Dounreay is inviting the public to attend a drop-in meeting to discuss its proposed low-level waste disposal facilities on Tuesday July 1 between 7pm and 9pm in Reay Village Hall.
June 30, 2008
French TV spotlight on site clean-up
Dounreay’s clean-up and demolition is to feature in a 90-minute programme being made for broadcast on French and German television.
June 20, 2008
Book to tell 50 years of Dounreay
The story of Dounreay, its leading role in the world quest for energy and its impact on the wellbeing of the far north of Scotland are all captured in a new book to be published next month.
June 13, 2008
World Environment Day celebrated at Dounreay
What is the theme of the 2008 World Environment Day? In which city would you find the Spanish Steps?
June 13, 2008
Old reprocessing plant is broken up
A decommissioning team is getting ready to begin breaking up the former research reactor fuel reprocessing plant at Dounreay.
June 06, 2008
Clean-up companies descend on Dounreay for trade show
Dounreay has hosted the UK’s premier trade show for engineering equipment and services to the nuclear decommissioning industry.
June 05, 2008
Boreholes to test hydraulic isolation of shaft
Another 21 boreholes have been drilled around the underground waste shaft at Dounreay.
June 04, 2008
Overhead travelling crane modernised to help clean up
The 25 ton electric overhead travelling crane serving the Dounreay materials test reactor support building recently had a complete overhaul and update. This involved lifting the body of the crane out through the roof of the building.
June 03, 2008
Site safety record hits three million hours
Dounreay has clocked up more than three million man-hours without a lost-time accident.
May 29, 2008
Clean-up contract goes to BNS Nuclear Services
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd today announced its preferred bidder for a contract worth in the region of £13 million to support its decommissioning of the site’s two fast reactors.
May 29, 2008
Destruction of sodium vessels almost complete
Work is well underway at the Janetstown off-site test facility near Thurso to remove clean sodium from an assortment of vessels that were stored on the Dounreay site.
May 28, 2008
Staff learn about skills and training opportunities
Union reps, college lecturers and training staff came together at Dounreay to promote opportunities for workers to learn new skills and develop different careers.
May 28, 2008
Site publishes monthly performance report
A new monthly performance report is published today by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd.
May 23, 2008
Dounreay restarts LLW disposal planning application
Dounreay Site Restoration Limited has requested Highland Council to restart the planning application process to build facilities for the disposal of low level radioactive waste from decommissioning the site.
May 21, 2008
New commercial head at Dounreay
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd has appointed Tom Cummings as its new head of commercial.
May 16, 2008
Historical water tank demolished
Dounreay’s decommissioning team has knocked down one of the oldest structures on the site.
May 15, 2008
Dounreay to issue new performance report
A new monthly performance report is to be published by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd.
May 05, 2008
De-cladding operations a success
Workers using remote technology are successfully dealing with the irradiated ‘breeder’ fuel elements from the Dounreay Fast Reactor.
May 01, 2008
Dounreay News May edition
The May issue of the site's newspaper, Dounreay News, has been published. To read, click here
May 01, 2008
Director's Quarterly Report published
The Director's Quarterly Report provides an update on the site's decomissioning, safety, environmental and general performance. It is produced for consideration at the Dounreay Stakeholder Group meetings.
May 01, 2008
Investigation into old diffuser complete
The latest investigation of the seabed where the Dounreay effluent discharge systems are located was completed on April 22.
May 01, 2008
Welsh delegates learn from Caithness experience
Staff from the Dounreay site met with representatives from Wales last week as part of a two day visit to Caithness to learn from the work carried out on regeneration of the community.
May 01, 2008
Works gets underway to develop strategy for site heritage
Preserving the story of 50 years of research and development and the decommissioning challenges faced will be an important part of Caithness heritage for future generations.
May 01, 2008
Beth goes down in history
Thurso High school pupil, Beth Henderson, is too young to be a part of the Dounreay story but she has contributed to preserving a little bit of the site\'s heritage for years to come.
April 22, 2008
Shaft waste shredder goes on trial
Machinery that can shred steel and other material recovered from Dounreay’s shaft and silo has gone on trial at a test facility in Caithness.
April 22, 2008
Change at the top
The site welcomes James Biggs who will take over responsibility for delivering essential site services to support the decommissioning programme.
April 18, 2008
Safer site earns £20k dividend for charity
Dounreay’s improving safety performance has landed local charities a £20,000 windfall.
April 17, 2008
Plutonium clean-up enters final stages
Work has started on the penultimate phase of cleaning out an old plutonium test cell that many people thought could never be decommissioned safely.
April 17, 2008
NDA confirms site funding
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd has received confirmation from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority of its funding arrangements for 2008/09.
April 17, 2008
Commissioner rules on nuclear storage information
In March 2006, a journalist requested 11 documents from UKAEA that related to safety working parties and the arrangements for storage of nuclear and fissile materials at Dounreay.
April 16, 2008
NDA bosses see major hazard being destroyed
The two men in charge of Britain's nuclear clean-up programme have seen how one of their biggest hazards is being destroyed at Dounreay.
April 16, 2008
Investigation at old diffuser continues
Divers took to the sea on April 15 to investigate the old subsea diffuser system that was used to discharge radioactive effluent from Dounreay until 1998.
April 15, 2008
Dounreay staff learn from American experience
Staff from Dounreay travelled to the USA to learn from the decommissioning and regeneration experiences of American nuclear decommissioning.
April 11, 2008
Drive-through building site keeps Dounreay open
One of the most challenging projects carried out at Dounreay has involved not a drop of radioactive waste.
April 10, 2008
Grout curtain in place around shaft
Dounreay’s waste shaft is now surrounded on all sides by a 10-metre wide band of grouted-up rock.
April 07, 2008
Astronaut visits Dounreay
Dounreay folk were given an unique opportunity to hear former NASA space shuttle pilot Duane Carey when he came to the site recently to give a talk on his career and experiences in the space shuttle programme.
April 04, 2008
Particle clean-up trials successful
Remotely-operated equipment designed to recover radioactive particles from the seabed has been demonstrated successfully offshore at Dounreay.
April 02, 2008
Safety milestone for waste team
Dounreay's waste services unit has clocked up a remarkable two years without a lost-time accident.
April 01, 2008
Dounreay News April edition
The April issue of the Dounreay News, the site's newspaper, has now been published.
April 01, 2008
New identity for site
A new brand identity has been developed for Dounreay as part of its transition to a site licence company.
April 01, 2008
Technical media visit Dounreay
A group of journalists with a special interest in nuclear decommissioning has visited Dounreay to see at first hand progress being made to clean up and demolish the experimental site.
April 01, 2008
DSRL becomes site licence company
The management and contractual arrangements for delivery of the site clean-up programme at Dounreay change today.
March 28, 2008
Breakthroughs in Hazard Reduction
UKAEA is on course to hand over the clean-up of Dounreay to a subsidiary company on April 1 on the back of significant progress during March to reduce the major hazards at the site.
March 19, 2008
Camera watches sodium drain from reactor
Dounreay’s Prototype Fast Reactor has now been drained of all 1500 tonnes of liquid metal that once flowed through its primary and secondary circuits.
January 30, 2008
Gone in 90 seconds
January 17, 2008
Local firm awarded major contract
Local engineering firm JGC Engineering & Technical Services Ltd has been awarded a major contract vital to the environment and decommissioning of the Dounreay site.
