Threat to 500 clean-up jobs DOUNREAY: CASH CRISIS
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[January 23, 2007]

Threat to 500 clean-up jobs DOUNREAY: CASH CRISIS

(The Sunday Herald Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) THE GBP3 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 agency that funds the dismantling of all the UK's nuclear plants, has a shortfall of GBP450 million.

As a result, Dounreay could see its budget cut by GBP40 million in 2007-08, drastically reducing the sum 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 the date for finishing the site clean-up 2033 may be pushed back "several years".



They also said the 2000-strong workforce of staff and contractors at Dounreay could be reduced by between 200 and 500. Staff at Dounreay have reacted with "absolute disbelief and anger", said Ian Clark, the trade union co-ordinator for the site's operator, the UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).

The funding shortfall has arisen as 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 GBP2bn annual budget.



The NDA is understood to have asked the Treasury for an extra GBP290m. But it is also telling contractors, such as the UKAEA, to cut GBP160m from their cleanup programmes. Dounreay has been required to make cuts of nearly GBP6m by the end of March. The site had planned for a budget of GBP170m in 2007-08, but now staff fear this may be reduced to GBP130m.

Cutbacks are also being required at Hunterston A in North Ayrshire, and Chapelcross, near Annan, in Dumfries and Galloway.

Copyright 2007 Newsquest Media Group. Source: Financial Times Information Limited

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