Savings explained in Dounreay to Sellafield nuclear transport plan

Dounreay, an experimental nuclear power site, is being demolished and cleaned up

Plans to move nuclear material from Scotland to England will not result in savings that could directly benefit communities, councils have been told.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) proposes moving fuel and other radioactive material from Dounreay to Sellafield for treatment.

The proposal is deemed to be more cost effective than building new facilities at Dounreay in Caithness.

Councils had hoped this might leave spare money to invest in projects.

The NDA said that was not how the savings would work out but, in the long term, it would mean less UK taxpayers' money being spent on dealing with the material.

A spokesman added that the nuclear authority was spending £14m on helping communities in Caithness and north Sutherland prepare for the closure of Dounreay, a major employer in the area.

The NDA has two separate proposals to transport material from Dounreay to Sellafield, where there are existing facilities, or ones being built, to handle it.

For the material to stay at Dounreay, storage sites would have to be upgraded or replaced within the next 15 years.

The NDA has said that it would take eight to 10 years to design and build the necessary facilities.

In the case of material called breeder, the NDA has estimated that it would cost about £60m to transfer it to Sellafield, but £65m to deal with it at Dounreay.

Highland Council and Cumbria's Copeland Borough Council, along with the Dounreay Stakeholder Group, asked the NDA about investing any money saved.

However, in its response the NDA said: "It is important to note that no money is actually saved.

"The benefits are that a future demand on HM Treasury will be reduced. So 'savings' cannot be used in the way suggested.

"However, NDA does have a socio-economic strategy and appropriate investment in regions local to our site is considered carefully."

Freight terminal

In relation to Dounreay, the support includes the £4m Caithness and Sutherland Fund. It paid out its first £1m to the local area in November last year.

The site also has a communities fund which makes donations to clubs and organisations.

Work is also under way on a new freight terminal in Caithness which will enable trains to move nuclear material from Dounreay to Sellafield.

The project at Georgemas Junction should be completed by the summer.

It has been suggested the upgraded facilities could be used by the renewables industry for moving equipment to the north of Scotland.

Bill Hamilton, head of stakeholder relations at the NDA, said: "The money will be saved in the future, but it hasn't been saved yet, so there isn't a mythical pot of gold.

"There will be savings to all of us as UK taxpayers in the long-term and that saving will eventually rack up to potentially hundreds of millions of pounds."