The contractor for cleanup of the former fast-breeder 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.
Roughly 10 percent to 15 percent of staff would be offered “voluntary arrangements” to exit their positions in that time frame, Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd. [DSRL] 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 Dounreay decommissioning 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. The site 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 U.K. Nuclear Decommissioning Authority had invested over £10 million in the past 10 years for “strategic socio-economic projects” to help workers secure separate work 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.
The contractor is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cavendish Dounreay Partnership Ltd. a partnership of Cavendish Nuclear, CH2M, and AECOM.
