Information Bulletin
13 August 2004
Council Convener Welcomes Dounreay Apology
Director of Dounreay, Mr Norman Harrison, has apologised to Shetland Islands Council over the way the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) treated comments made by the Council during a recent consultation exercise. Council Convener Sandy Cluness has welcomed the apology and has expressed the hope that dialogue between the Council and Dounreay will be more satisfactory in future.
The operators of the nuclear facility at Dounreay met the Council in Lerwick this week to iron out problems arising from the UKAEA's failure to acknowledge the Council's deep concerns about plans to build an incinerator at Dounreay to deal with radioactive solvents and oils. The consultation is one of several being undertaken in order to guide the decommissioning of the facilities at Dounreay, a process which will take around 50 years.
The meeting was arranged following complaints made in April by Mr Cluness to UKAEA Chief Executive, Mr Dipesh Shah over how UKAEA had dealt with a substantial 3,500 word submission by the Council in response to the consultation about radioactive solvents and oils stored at Dounreay. The Council is very much opposed to the construction of an incinerator at Dounreay, as it believes there are other options available to deal with this waste stream.
A document published by UKAEA as a response to the consultation process recognised that the Council had submitted a response, but there were no references at all to the Council's comments, nor were the questions raised in the submission answered.
At the meeting UKAEA was able to respond fully to the concerns raised in the Council's submission, and to re-assure them on a number of these points. The UKAEA representatives explained that the consultation process, which UKAEA had introduced, is designed to allow any member of the public, or organisations like SIC, to input their views to significant decisions within the clean-up programme at Dounreay. These decisions often involve striking a balance between different concerns, and opposing points of view. The UKAEA representatives explained that their recommended option reflected the views of many of those who contributed, but that the UKAEA freely accepted that they failed to make the views of SIC clear in the final document. Mr Harrison issued a formal apology to the Convener at the meeting and said that the UKAEA would revise the document and re-circulate it to all stakeholders to allow them to submit further comments. Mr Cluness expressed his satisfaction that UKAEA had acknowledged the omissions and welcomed their offer to try to rectify the situation by revising the document to include the Council's views and allowing further consultation. He said " I am satisfied by the assurances given by the UKAEA that, with hindsight, things could have been done better. I believe that in future our contribution as a stakeholder in the dialogue over the future decommissioning of Dounreay will be reflected accurately and fairly."
Notes to Editors
Attending the meeting for UKAEA were Dounreay Director Mr Norman Harrison, Dr Beth Taylor, Head of Communications UKAEA, Mrs June Love, Dounreay Deputy Communications Manager and Mr Alastair McDonald, Dounreay Projects Department. Representing the Shetland Islands Council were Convener Sandy Cluness; Councillors Iris Hawkins, Barbara Cheyne and Jim Henry; Mr Chris Bunyan of the Norhern European Nuclear Information Group and appropriate Council officers
For the Solvent and Oils Consultation, the consultation comprised of two stages. In the first stage 2 stakeholder workshops were held with a range of local stakeholders. The 2 nd stage is then to distribute a summary paper to more than 800 stakeholders with the draft Best Practicable Environmental Option and Stakeholder Workshop reports available on the website with a response form with questions set by UKAEA.
The UKAEA received only 18 responses. 14 consisted of completed feedback forms from the website, which offered the opportunity of a relatively limited analysis of the issues. The only substantial submissions came from the Council, whose submission was supported by the Nuclear Free Local Authorities, and Mr Trevor Jones.
Further Information:
Rick Nickerson, Shetland Islands Council, telephone (01595) 744825.
June Love, Dounreay Communications, telephone (01847) 806082 or (out with office hours) telephone (01847) 802121 and ask for the Duty Press Officer.