Delays and job losses for nuclear clean-up

from Sunday Herald, 21 January 2007

The £3 billion clean-up of the defunct nuclear complex at Dounreay in Caithness is facing prolonged delays and the loss of up to 500 jobs because of a government financial crisis.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the state agency that funds the dismantling of all the UK's nuclear plants, has a shortfall of £450 million. As a result Dounreay could see its budget cut by £40 million in 2007-08, drastically reducing the amount available for spending on decommissioning.

That would mean the postponement of a series of projects vital for making Dounreay safe, including the emptying of the shoreline radioactive waste shaft which exploded in 1977. Officials fear that the target date for completing the site clean-up - 2033 - could be pushed back "several years".

The workforce at Dounreay could also be reduced by between 200 and 500, they say, leading to the loss of skills and damaging the local community. With about 2,000 staff and contractors, Dounreay is by far the biggest employer in the region.

Staff at Dounreay have reacted with "absolute disbelief and anger", according to Ian Clark, the trade union co-ordinator for the site's operator, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA). "The rug has been pulled from under our feet," he said.

The funding shortfall has arisen because the NDA's income from operating nuclear plants has been much lower than expected. A reprocessing plant at Sellafield has been closed because of a leak, and a plutonium fuel plant and ageing reactors are performing badly.

The NDA relies on these plants to provide half of its £2 billion annual budget. "This seems completely ludicrous," said Clark. Government promises that funding would be reliable had "just evaporated", he alleged.

The NDA is understood to have asked the Treasury for an extra £290 million. But it is also telling contractors like the UKAEA to cut £160 million from their clean-up programmes.

Dounreay has been required to make cuts amounting of nearly £6 million before the end of March. The site had originally planned for a budget of £170 million in 2007-08, but now staff fear this may be reduced to £130 million.

Cutbacks are also being required at two other nuclear plants being decommissioned in Scotland by the British Nuclear Group. They are Hunterston A in North Ayrshire, and Chapelcross near Annan in Dumfries and Galloway.

Dounreay's spokesman, Colin Punler, confirmed that spending was being cut back. "We have shelved a number of pieces of work and put restrictions on all non-essential expenditure," he said. "No decisions have been taken about the level of funding available to Dounreay next year, so any potential impacts are speculation at this stage."

The NDA said it was in discussions with the Department of Trade and Industry about extra funding. "It would be inappropriate to speculate on numbers while discussions continue," said an NDA spokesman. "Safety remains the absolute priority at all times."

Pete Roche, policy adviser to the group of nuclear-free local authorities in Scotland, argued that it was "folly" to rely on income from Sellafield. "Making people redundant and delaying clean-up in Caithness because of incompetence at Sellafield is absurd," he said.