The contractor for cleanup of the former fast reactor research and development facility at Dounreay, Scotland, said last week it anticipates cutting up to 200 jobs over the coming year as decommissioning progresses.
Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. [DSRL] employs about 1,000 people on staff, roughly 10 to 15 percent of whom would be offered “voluntary arrangements” to exit their positions, the company said in an April 12 press statement.
“Our expectation is that we will reduce the workforce by around 200 roles in the next year or so, which will include up to 150 DSRL employees leaving under voluntary arrangements with the remainder from the agency and contract workforce largely associated with projects that are due to end,” Dounreay Managing Director Phil Craig wrote in a letter to stakeholders. “The final number will be dependent on factors including, but not limited to, the amount of volunteers, cost and business need.”
The U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) set spending in its 2017-2018 budget year at Dounreay at £189 million. The entire project is expected to cost £1.9 billion, according to a 2015 NDA report cited by the London Telegraph.
This decommissioning project has been characterized as the most complex nuclear facility closure in Europe, encompassing cleanup and demolition of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities; management of radioactive and nonradioactive waste; nuclear fuel extraction; and preparing the site for future use. Upcoming milestones, according to NDA, include dismantlement of the Dounreay Fast Reactor in 2022, disposal of all fuel by 2024, and disassembly of the Prototype Fast Reactor in 2026.
The 173-acre site in Caithness is scheduled to be placed in its “interim end state” — the point at which all remediation has been completed — in the 2030s.
Dounreay Site Restoration noted that it and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority had invested over £10 million in the past 10 years for “strategic socio-economic projects” that have helped create new jobs in the region. Additional money will be provided, according to the company press release. Craig said a revised socioeconomic plan covering the next three years would be released in the near future.
Further details on the process for volunteering for layoffs are expected to be released in coming months to stakeholder groups, Craig said.
The contractor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cavendish Dounreay Partnership Ltd. a partnership of Cavendish Nuclear, CH2M, and AECOM.
Cavendish Nuclear also partnered with U.S.-based Fluor on a contract for decommissioning of the U.K.’s retired Magnox nuclear reactors. The U.K. government announced last month it would terminate that contract in 2019, nearly a decade early, due to a defective procurement process.
Gail Ross, the Scottish National Party lawmaker who represents the region, said Saturday the upcoming Dounreay personnel reductions are “disappointing but not unexpected.”
“It’s important that the management work closely with the unions and that the workers are fully supported through this process,” she said in a prepared statement. “I understand that not all the unions are on board at the moment and this has to change to ensure smooth relationships between all concerned and to prevent an already difficult process becoming even more challenging.”
Dounreay Site Restoration did not respond to requests for additional details regarding its workforce reduction plan.
