Cavendish Nuclear has been awarded a circa £20m contract that will provide Dounreay with the capability to package solid Intermediate Level Waste from the Dounreay shaft and silo.
The contract award is for the Drum Handling Facility.
The project scope covers detail design, manufacture, installation and inactive commissioning over a five year timeframe.
The project forms part of the shaft and silo programme which will provide Dounreay with the capability to safely retrieve, sort, process and package waste from these facilities for passive long-term storage.
The facility will process and package a variety of waste streams into 500 litre drums, which will then be encapsulated prior to being placed in a shielded flask.
Mick Gornall, managing director of Cavendish Nuclear, said: “This is part of a mission critical project to the site and will be subject to a high level of scrutiny.
“The project will draw upon our extensive experience in waste processing and packaging gained from a portfolio of projects successfully completed within the wider NDA estate.
“We are committed to supporting Dounreay in its mission, with the Drum Handler being the third project that we have secured under the Decommissioning Services Framework.”
The subsidiary of Babcock International previously won a £2.8m contract to deliver modifications to Dounreay’s existing processing facility, helping to safely decommission the site and reduce hazards.
This follows Highland Council's bid for a planned £222m prototype fusion reactor, potentially replacing the old Dounreay Fast Reactor.
The UK Government is seeking sites to build what would be the UK’s - and potentially the world’s - first prototype commercial nuclear fusion reactor.
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