24 Nov (NucNet): A preferred bidder to manage the company leading the demolition and clean-up of the Dounreay nuclear plant in Scotland has been confirmed.
Babcock Dounreay Partnership, a consortium of UK and US companies, is poised to take over Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) from the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
The experimental nuclear ENERGY site is being demolished and cleaned up. According to a statement yesterday, Babcock Dounreay Partnership is expected to formally take over DSRL in April next year.
DSRL's new owners would be expected to take the decommissioning programme to what is called its interim end state where Dounreay's landmark reactor dome and other buildings had been removed.
Key criteria for the competition held by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, which is overseeing the clean-up of the UK's civilian nuclear legacy, were that bids should accelerate the current 2038 interim end state date by at least six years, while reducing project costs by at least 500 millio pounds (GBP) (580 million euro, 776 million US dollars).
The contract that would be offered to Babcock Dounreay Partnership could eventually be worth up to GBP three billion.
What would remain at Dounreay at the end of the contract would be a landscaped low-level waste store. A small number of large heavily-shielded sheds containing about 20,000 tonnes of more highly radioactive waste would also remain.
About 100 tonnes of fuel still at the site – material that could be used in future electricity production – is expected to be moved to another nuclear plant for reprocessing.
Dounreay was the UK’s centre of fast reactor research and development from 1954 to 1994. Decommissioning of the site is scheduled to be completed by 2033.
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