Cavendish Nuclear said Friday it had secured a contract worth several million pounds to dismantle and demolish the Dounreay Materials Test Reactor (DMTR) at the former Dounreay fast-reactor research and development site in Scotland.
This will complete decommissioning of the facility, which is the oldest nuclear reactor in Scotland, according to a Cavendish Nuclear press release. The work is expected to take three years.
Cavendish Nuclear won the contract following “a competitive tendering exercise” by cleanup manager Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd., the release says.
Cavendish Nuclear is the ultimate parent company of Dounreay Site Restoration through its Cavendish Dounreay Partnership subsidiary. The cleanup contract at Dounreay is worth £1.6 billion ($2 billion).
“The start of the work to demolish the DMTR 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,” Alan Cumming, director of nuclear operations for the U.K.’s Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, said in the release.
The reactor began operations in 1958 and was employed for materials irradiation testing until 1969. The reactor vessel, supports, and containment shell remain in place following earlier extraction of the reactor fuel, coolant, and other components.
The nuclear services provider will work with a number of companies on the decommissioning project: JGC Engineering and Technical Services, Veolia subsidiary KDC, and Frazer-Nash Consultancy, along with local businesses Gunn’s of Lybster, Caithness Scaffolding and Hugh Simpson Ltd.
