Trains to take Dounreay nuclear fuel to Sellafield

It would cost £65m to deal with the material at Dounreay

Trains are to start moving tonnes of nuclear fuel from Dounreay in Caithness to Sellafield in Cumbria from next summer if regulators approve the plan.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said the breeder material would be reprocessed for use in generating electricity in the future.

The authority has previously estimated the cost of preparing the material for transportation by rail at £30m.

Forty-four tonnes of breeder would be moved over four to five years.

The NDA had consulted on the plan to transport the material by train.

It is now seeking permission from regulators the Office for Nuclear Regulation and Office for Civil Nuclear Authority.

Highland Council had asked that the NDA make sure that people living close to the railway were fully aware of what was being proposed.

Dounreay is being demolished at a cost of £2.6bn and does not have the means of reprocessing the breeder material.

The NDA has said it would cost £65m to immobilise and dispose of it at the Scottish site.

The total cost of transporting it by rail and reprocessing at Sellafield was estimated to run to £60m.