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Dounreay Bulletin
April 2004
MINISTER SEES ENTERPRISE AT
WORK IN DOME CLEAN-UP
 Scotland’s
Deputy First Minister visited Dounreay on April 16th and learned how local
engineering expertise is being used to help decommission the landmark
Dounreay Fast Reactor. Jim Wallace, who is also Minister for Enterprise
and Lifelong Learning and MSP for Orkney, toured the famous Dome of
Discovery and met Alex and Pat Grant, whose company Norfrost Technologies
Ltd has manufactured a device for taking a sample of the crust on the
liquid metal coolant. The tool has been lowered into position and is
expected to take the sample in the near future. The results will provide
information that is essential for the safe destruction of the liquid metal
coolant. Mr Wallace was accompanied by John Thurso MP and Jamie Stone MSP.
Also present was Carroll Buxton, chief executive of Caithness and
Sutherland Enterprise. Site director Norman Harrison, who hosted the
visit, said: “The Norfrost contract is a good example of how
decommissioning at Dounreay is opening up new markets for local
engineering expertise, both here at the site and elsewhere in the UK and
abroad as more of the old nuclear technology is dismantled. It’s a real
win-win situation.”
GROUND CLEARANCE CONTRACT
AWARDED
John Gunn & Son, of Lybster, Caithness, has been awarded a contract for
the removal of old foundations, floor slabs and steel stubs from building
structural steelwork around the Dounreay Fast Reactor. This is ground
preparatory work in advance of construction of decommissioning facilities
at DFR. It follows the recent completion by Gunn of demolition of the DFR
seawater pumphouse and a modular office facility. The same firm recently
demolished D9952, the Vehicle Weather Air Lock building.
DECOMMISSIONING OF FORMER FUEL
EXAMINATION LAB
The first phase of decommissioning Lab 33 at Dounreay is now complete. A
single cell, Lab 33 was constructed in the 1950s for post-irradiation
examination of irradiated fuel experiments. It was mothballed following
the closure of the Prototype Fast Reactor in 1994. An interesting feature
of Lab 33 was a turntable constructed from a gun turret salvaged from HMS
Howe, one of the last battleships built on the Clyde and which was
scrapped in 1958. Several tons of steel salvaged from the hull of the same
ship was used at Dounreay as shielding for equipment used to measure
radiation. The six-inch thick steel was made before 1945, which meant it
had not been exposed to any fall-out from nuclear weapons during its
production which could affect the radiation readings.
DIVERS TO CARRY OUT INSPECTION
The annual inspection and maintenance by divers of the seabed outfall off
Dounreay commences on April 19th. Once this is complete, the divers will
also carry out some further surveys of the seabed as part of the particles
investigation programme. They are expected to spend about 30 working days
in total on the seabed. A separate exercise to take samples of the seabed
is also taking place offshore during April. This work is providing
information for a Site Wide Environment Statement that is mapping the
present condition of the environment in and around Dounreay.
FIRM CLINCHES VENTILATION
CONTRACT
A contract has been awarded to JGC Engineering and Technical Services,
Harpsdale, to fabricate and install three replacement link ventilation
ducts from facilities within the site’s waste management complex to the
area’s main underground ventilation duct. The new link ducts will replace
the systems installed in the 1950s. The work is due for completion in July
of this year.
KAZAKHSTAN LOOKS TO DOUNREAY FOR
LIQUID METAL SKILLS
A group of thirteen engineers and scientists from the former Soviet
republic of Kazakhstan visited Dounreay recently to learn about removing
liquid metal coolant residues and how this experience can be used in the
decommissioning of their BN-350 reactor, sited near Aktau on the shore of
the Caspian Sea. The visit was organised by RWE Nukem as part of a DTI
programme to assist former Soviet countries deal with their nuclear
legacies. The group was interested in how UKAEA is removing the residues
of liquid metal from the Prototype Fast Reactor. They also visited the
cementation plant on site where waste is conditioned and stored in drums.
Dr Peter Thompson, UKAEA’s international collaboration manager, said:
“They have a backlog of liquors that have to be treated, so cementation is
an obvious route.” Alexandr Klepikov, part of the delegation, said the
visit went very well with many useful discussions. “We were very impressed
with the facilities we were shown, in particular, the water vapour
nitrogen plant,” he said.
RUSSIAN MAYORS LEARN ABOUT
TRANSITION AT DOUNREAY
Industrial and civic leaders from Russia's closed atomic cities have been
in Scotland to learn how Dounreay and the local community has been
adjusting to its new life as a centre for decommissioning. The visit was
part of an initiative by Britain's Department of Trade and Industry to
help the closed cities of the former Soviet Union to find alternative
non-weapons employment as part of international efforts to counter nuclear
proliferation. It also aims to promote sustained economic development in
the cities.
A 15-strong party representing 10
cities, including mayors and industrial leaders, visited Scotland as part
of a week-long fact-finding visit to the UK. Their cities face thousands
of job losses with the rundown of work in former atomic sites.
Colin Punler, UKAEA's
communications manager at Dounreay, described how the site had made the
transition from operations to decommissioning, with growth in training,
jobs and contract opportunities. The conference also heard from Neil
Money, former head of the decommissioning task force set up by the HIE
network, and Carol Gunn, of Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise.
ORDNANCE SURVEY STONE GOES ON
DISPLAY
Part of the former Dounreay farmhouse which played an important part in a
national mapping exercise over 50 years ago has been preserved for
posterity at the Dounreay visitor centre. The stone building block, which
was recovered from the demolition of the building last year, has an
Ordnance Survey benchmark cut into it, dating from sometime between 1936
and 1952. This was the period during which the Ordnance Survey carried out
its second geodetic levelling. The levelling is based on the Ordnance
Datum, which is the mean level of the sea at Newlyn in Cornwall, which was
calculated from hourly readings of the sea level recorded on an automatic
tide gauge from 1 May 1915 to 30 April 1921. This tide gauge is situated
in the Ordnance Survey Tidal Observatory on the south pier at Newlyn, and
readings are related to the Observatory Bench Mark, which is 4.751 m
(15.588 ft) above the datum. The Bench Mark on
Lower Dounreay Farmhouse stone is
15.24 metres. This is its height above the Observatory Bench Mark at
Newlyn. The stone was part of the farmhouse, which was built in 1859 and
demolished last year to clear the ground for new waste treatment plants.
The visitor centre opened at Easter.
DRAWING OFFICE RELOCATION PAYS
DIVIDENDS
The relocation of UKAEA’s design section drawing office to new
accommodation at Dounreay has paid dividends, according to section manager
Alan Simpson. Previously located in a controlled area of the site, it is
now located in the new office block known as D2003. "It's an ideal
environment for our draughtspersons and, given the closeness of the design
engineers, we handle a wide variety of tasks which permits a huge
opportunity for development." The Section uses the most up-to-date
equipment, providing support to a wide diversity of customer needs,
including diagrams for procedures and 3D modelling in support of sanction
cases, whilst retaining traditional manual draughting. Given the
sensitivity of many projects security is also an important factor,
according to Jared Fraser, the drawing office supervisor. "The team's work
on security drawings also required permanent walls and security locks on
all entrances. A recent audit by the Office of Civil Security commented
positively on the system employed by the team."
HOSPITAL PATIENTS BENEFIT FROM
TRAINEES’ FUND-RAISING
Thanks to fund-raising events organised by the Dounreay secretarial
trainees, extra facilities for the hard of hearing have been installed at
Caithness General Hospital, Wick. The trainees raised £1,348 and divided
it equally between Caithness General, the Caithness branches of ENABLE and
Diabetes UK, and the Dunbar Hospital, Thurso. Caithness General matched
the donation and installed an in-built deaf loop system in the reception
and bought four portable deaf loops. Two of the trainees, Hayley Polson
and Shona Campbell, were guests of the hospital to see what their efforts
had achieved. Pauline Craw, Nursing Manager, said the new facilities would
be very beneficial, particularly the portable units. “Without the donation
it is unlikely we would have been able to provide all the systems at
present. For that reason we are very grateful to the Dounreay trainees for
their efforts and kindness.” |