Sustainable Communities?
Decommissioning and the Future of Sellafield and Dounreay
The Dounreay Community
Norman Harrison, Acting Chief Operating Officer
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Location, location, location
Dounreay
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Dounreay – a new beginning for Caithness
• UK centre of research for fast reactors from 1955 to 1994 • Site contained 3 reactors, reprocessing plants, laboratories and waste plants
• Radically changed the economy of Caithness
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Decommissioning at Dounreay
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Dounreay – what it means to Caithness in 2006
• 2,000 people work at Dounreay on a daily basis. This equivalent to one in every five jobs.
• It is estimated that Dounreay supports 2,500 jobs in Caithness. This is equivalent to one in every four jobs.
• £80 million per year is injected into the local economy. This is more than 10% of the total economic output of the North Highlands.
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The route to closure….staff numbers
Staff Numbers - Lifetime Plan 2006
2500
2000
Subcontractors UKAEA Staff
1500
1000
500
0 2006/07 2008/09 2010/11 2012/13 2014/15 2016/17 2018/19 2020/21 2022/23 2024/25 2026/27 2028/29 2030/31 2032/33 2034/35 2036/37 2038/39
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The route to closure – closure date
• Current date for closure of Dounreay is 2033
• UKAEA has aspirations to accelerate the closure date
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Socio-economics – UKAEA responsibilities
• UKAEA as a socially responsible employer has a moral responsibility to our employees
• Contract between NDA and UKAEA includes a section on SocioEconomics
• NDA published their draft Socio-Economic Policy in October 2006, it sets out in detail their expectations of the site contractors
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What UKAEA are doing
• Making efficiency savings at our decommissioning sites – a proportion of which is re-invested by the NDA into socio-economic projects. • New socio-economic project team in place at Dounreay. • Supporting and working in partnership with the agencies responsible for regeneration and development. • Meeting with stakeholders to understand their concerns and requirements.
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What UKAEA are doing
• Developing a Career Transition System: – Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) Office on site. – Pilot scheme being run by CASE on-site for people interested in starting their own business.
– Strengthening our links with North Highland College. • Developing a Procurement Strategy and Make/Buy policy.
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What UKAEA are doing
• Exploring the possibility of locating certain functions off-site: – Environmental Labs: non-radiological – Archives: site and others – Training: discussions with UHI, t3|uk and supply chain • Supporting the following areas of economic regeneration: – Marine Energy – Knowledge Economy – Energies Technology Institute – Caithness Horizons
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Recent socio-economic support
• Supporting the economic development of Caithness is not a new activity for UKAEA:
– North Highland Initiative. – Financial support to a community run renewable energy scheme in Thurso.
– Financial support to a community run regeneration project in Wick. – Over 40 places in apprentice training.
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What UKAEA plan to do
• Continue supporting and working in partnership with the agencies responsible for regeneration and development, stakeholders and local bodies. • Continue the development of a Career Transition System. • Continue the development the Procurement Strategy.
• Socio-economics becomes an everyday part of business. • Production of an annual Socio-Economic Development Plan.
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Working in partnership - the route to success
• In order for Caithness to have a prosperous, diversified economy post Dounreay, then everyone must work together in a partnership. • This started with the publication of the draft document, ‘A Strategy for Caithness and North Sutherland’ by the Caithness SocioEconomic Strategy Group in June 2006. • Following public consultation, the final document was published in October 2006.
• There will be a conference to present the outcomes of the strategy document to Ministers.
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