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From April 1, UKAEA will become a contractor of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority which has strategic responsibility for the decommissioning and clean-up of all UK public sector civil nuclear sites. The decommissioning work at Dounreay will be carried out by UKAEA as the site licensee company in accordance with work plans developed by the contractor and agreed with the NDA.

A new forum is being set up to give the community a greater say in these decisions.

Over 20 different organisations representing every aspect of community life have been invited to attend an inaugural meeting to form the Dounreay Stakeholder Group.

The new group is expected to monitor the performance of the site contractor and the NDA in areas such as programme delivery, safety, environment and security, and play an important role in the economic regeneration of the area.

It will be part of a network of site stakeholder groups across the UK, with each site group represented at meetings of a national stakeholder group being set up by the NDA.

The establishment of a network of groups follows a recent consultation by the Department of Trade and Industry with stakeholders on how they want to engage with the NDA and site operators.

An inaugural meeting to establish the Dounreay Stakeholder Group takes place at 7pm on Monday, March 21, at the Pentland Hotel, Thurso, when the business will include the appointment of an independent chair and vice-chair, and adoption of terms of reference.

All meetings of the group will be held in public and advertised, and there will be an opportunity for members of the public to ask questions.

The establishment of the stakeholder groups reflects a founding principle of the NDA to decommission sites in a way that it is open and transparent.

Funding for the stakeholder group and a secretariat is being provided by UKAEA under the terms of its contract with the NDA.

Draft terms of reference were drawn up by a working group appointed by the Dounreay Local Liaison Committee and will be presented to the meeting. The local liaison committee has now been wound up.

The draft terms of reference can be viewed at http://www.ukaea.org.uk/dounreay/pdf/DSG_TOR.pdf . Once established, the stakeholder group is expected to set up its own website independent of the site operator and the NDA.

For further information, please contact June Love, Deputy Communications Manager, Dounreay on 01847 806080 or 0776 162400.