Demolition to start at Highland reactor
Scotland’s oldest nuclear reactor is to be demolished.
A multi-million-pound contract has been awarded for the decommissioning of the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor near Thurso in Caithness.
The reactor was the first operational nuclear reactor in Scotland and achieved criticality in 1958.
It was built to test the effects of radiation on different materials and operated for 11 years.
The demolition of the reactor building will be a major skyline change for Dounreay and will signify another major hazard reduction milestone at one of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) sites.
The NDA’s director of nuclear operations, Alan Cumming, said: “Dounreay site, and the surrounding communities, have made an incredible contribution to the advancement of the UK’s nuclear industry for several decades. That contribution continues to this day with the pioneering work being carried out at Scotland’s largest nuclear decommissioning project.
“The start of the work to demolish Dounreay Materials Test Reactor represents a significant step in our mission to decommission and clean-up the legacy from the very earliest days of the UK’s nuclear industry.”
Work will take three years.