About Dounreay
What is Dounreay?
Dounreay was the centre of the UK fast breeder reactor research programme from 1954 until 1994. Some 180 facilities, including three reactors, chemical reprocessing plants and various waste facilities, were built on approximately 136 acres. It is located on the north coast of Scotland. The nearest town is Thurso, Caithness.
What is a fast breeder reactor?
In the 1940s and 1950s, the type of uranium that could be used for nuclear fuel was very scarce. In the UK, the priority use for this type of material was in nuclear weapons.
Britain needed electricity, too, and scientists persuaded the Government to invest in research and development of the fast breeder system.
In a fast breeder reactor, an otherwise unusable form of uranium is packed in a blanket around the core. The reaction that occurs in the core changes this into a blanket of plutonium. The blanket is removed and undergos chemical separation to extract the plutonium, which can be used to make new reactor fuel.
In the 1950s and 1960s, fast breeders were seen as the solution to Britain's energy needs.
How many reactors were built?
Britain built two fast breeder reactors - an experimental breeder and a prototype breeder - both at Dounreay. A research reactor was also built at Dounreay.
Why did the site close?
By the 1980s, the fissile form of uranium was no longer in scarce supply.
Fast reactors were more expensive than conventional forms of electricity generation.
The UK Government decided the technology would not be needed for the foreseeable future and announced an end to research in 1988.
What happens now at Dounreay?
All research and development has ceased. Dounreay is now being decommissioned.
What does this involve?
Put simply, clearing everything away.
Some 180 facilities were developed here. Some of them contain major chemical and radiological hazards as a result of the experiments.
Each facility needs to be cleaned out, the waste managed safely and the structure dismantled.
Some new plant is needed to manage this waste.
How long will this take to complete?
By 2025, all the redundant facilities will have been demolished.
What will be left?
By 2025, all the radioactive wastes will have been packaged in a form that makes them safe for long-term storage or disposal.
The low-level wastes will have been deposited in a series of shallow vaults next to the site and capped.
The more hazardous intermediate-level wastes, together with any remaining fuel, will be held securely in purpose-built stores.
Access to parts of the site will be restricted until 2300 to allow radioactivity in the ground to decay.
No decision has been taken yet on whether to retain the sphere of the Dounreay Fast Reactor for posterity.
How much will it cost?
Approximately £2.5 billion (using discounted figures).
Who pays for it?
The UK Government.
Who owns Dounreay?
Dounreay belongs to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a non-departmental body of the UK Government. Its decommissioning is carried out by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd under a contract with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
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