Inventory
Forty years of research and development into more efficient ways to generate electricity from uranium and plutonium generated a variety of different types of fuel at Dounreay. Much of this in a specialist form.
When the research and development work came to an end in 1994, the programme had accumulated just over 100 tonnes of fuel on the site. Today, keeping this fuel safe and secure during the decommissioning is an integral part of the site clean-up programme.
This inventory belongs to the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and is a national asset.
It contains both irradiated fuel and unirradiated fuel.
Approximately seven tonnes of the site’s inventory belonged to historic customers who entered into commercial agreements during the 1980s and 1990s for the reworking of their fuel at Dounreay. The facilities to rework this fuel no longer exist at Dounreay.
Agreements have been reached to exchange or return much of this material, leaving less than half a tonne of foreign-owned material still to be resolved.
| Fuel Type | % of inventory |
| DFR breeder | 41 |
| natural/depleted uranium | 21 |
| irradiated plutonium bearing materials | 12 |
| unirradiated plutonium bearing materials | 10 |
| miscellaneous (on and off-site) | 10 |
| carbide | 6 |
Detailed information about specific fuel, its composition and precise location is withheld for security reasons.
Click here for guidance on the release of information about nuclear fuel.
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