Page 349 - Beyond Decommissioning

Case studies of nuclear redevelopment 325

During its operations years, the number of Dounreay employees settled at around
2300 with half being newcomers to the region. The inhabitants of the nearby town of
Thurso nearly tripled from 3200 to 9000. Education, housing, infrastructure, leisure,
social, and welfare installations quickly spread. The number of shops, hotels, bars, and
restaurants also increased to profit from the spending power of the Dounreay workers,
whose wages were much higher than the local average. Social integration was success-
ful. As the site is moving toward full shutdown, the related social and economic
impacts are considerable. For a comparison, there were nearly 1200 DSRL staff in
November 2017.
Historic Scotland first visited the site in 2007. Together with the National Museum
of Scotland, they have indicated that Dounreay’s heritage was of national interest and
should be captured, conserved, and dignified. Redeveloping Dounreay as a heritage
center may somehow alleviate the social and economic pressure.
With limited internal heritage expertise, bids were invited for a commercial con-
tract to produce a heritage strategy. Atkins Heritage was selected in spring 2008. Con-
sultations with all stakeholders lasted until the heritage strategy was published in
2010. The focus of the strategy was the fate of the DFR sphere.
The justification for dismantling the sphere stems from a number of factors:
the prohibitive high cost of removing all of the radioactive contamination from the sphere
l
shell,
l the high cost of painting the sphere every decade (about £0.5M) to maintain safe condition
and avoid turning into a rusting eyesore,
l minimizing the cost burden on future generations,
l security and safety requirements would anyhow limit public access to the sphere,
l the removal of all contaminated equipment would leave little scope for public tours, and
l the limited local tourism would not support a self-sustaining reuse of the sphere.
During the development of the strategy, opportunities were identified that DSRL on
their own would not be able to fund within the site activities. However, these oppor-
tunities will be pursued with the support of others. The opportunities include:
l Funded academic study—DSRL will provide support to an academic body expressing interest
to consider studies or qualifications about Dounreay heritage.
l Off-site exhibition—The option was to explore the possibility of developing a major off-site
gallery relating to Dounreay or the nuclear industry as a whole (see the Wick archive below).
l International conference—The establishment of an international annual conference focusing
on nuclear heritage management should further understanding on this subject.
l “Memorial”—The installation of a celebratory installation following building demolition.
An advisory panel comprising members from Historic Scotland, the National Museum
of Scotland, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historic Monuments of Scot-
land and Caithness Horizons, has been formed to advise DSRL on heritage matters.
The panel has met annually since 2010.
Nearly, 250 objects have been collected by the Heritage Officer since 2008, most of
them have been donated to the National Museum of Scotland and Caithness Horizons.
Two fire engines adapted to fight sodium fires at the DFRs have been donated to vin-
tage vehicle preservation groups.