RWMAC's Advice to Ministers on the Restoration of the UKAEA Dounreay Nuclear Site

2. The form of the study and report

2.1 RWMAC's visit to Dounreay, in September 2000, was planned as a follow-up exercise to its last review of radioactive waste management at the site ⁴. It was also the intention that the visit would benefit from access to the formal DSRP, publication of which was expected at that time. In the event, the DSRP was not ready, although UKAEA staff spoke openly to the Committee concerning its contents and readily supplied details, as far as this was permitted by the limited time available. The DSRP was subsequently issued in October 2000, with the aim of addressing "the different aspects of the task of restoring the Dounreay site".

2.2 The version of the DSRP given to RWMAC comprises seven volumes. Following an opening Introduction and Overview, volumes two to seven cover the overall environmental restoration strategy for the site, including its main objectives, followed by the decommissioning plan, the radioactive waste management plan, estates and utilities support services, treatment of nuclear fuels, and ground contamination and remediation. Thus, the DSRP incorporates six detailed sub-plans.

2.3 The structure of this RWMAC report broadly parallels that of the six specific sub-plans of the DSRP. Section 3 is an introductory discussion of UKAEA's progress to date with decommissioning of the Dounreay site. Section 4 sets out RWMAC's observations on the DSRP, but, critically, also identifies its limitations, the external constraints upon it, and how these difficulties might be resolved. Sections 5 to 9 then go on to examine a number of the individual aspects of the Plan, with the exception of the UKAEA Estates and Utilities (Infrastructure) Plan, which covers issues somewhat marginal to the Committee's terms of reference.