Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd -Strategy

Strategy

Dounreay’s stock of uranium and plutonium built up during national research into ways of generating electricity more efficiently from nuclear energy.

Today, that research is over and the site is being decommissioned. Its legacy of nuclear fuel, however, continues to be a national asset.

During 2008, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd carried out a comprehensive review of its fuel strategy.

This took into account the acceleration of the site clean-up plan and its expected completion by 2025, the needs of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, the removal of uncertainties around the closure of historical commercial contracts and developments in mature technologies for treatment of the fuel.

Central to the revised strategy is the need to keep the fuel in a safe and secure state at Dounreay until it is required elsewhere.

This will be done by repackaging the majority of the fuel by 2025 in a way that allows it to be stored safely at the site in containers that are transportable. This applies to irradiated and unirriated fuels

Any treatment and discharges required for storage and conditioning should be kept to a minimum and the technology used should be proven.

Storage requirements at Dounreay beyond 2025 should be kept to a minimum by continuing to explore opportunities for re-use or management of the fuel elsewhere before then.

The revised strategy for each fuel type will be reflected in future editions of the site’s lifetime plan prepared annually for approval by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.