MP heartened by response to Dounreay fusion energy plea
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross MP Jamie Stone is making progress in his quest to see fusion energy being developed at Dounreay.
After pressing the UK government on the issue, he has been promised a meeting with the minister for climate, Kerry McCarthy.
She pledged continuing support for the fusion energy sector and acknowledged a need for “an increased footprint for fusion-related facilities”.
Mr Stone had written to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero about the potential for fusion energy at Dounreay.
Dounreay was the UK centre for nuclear fast reactor research and development. Now, as it undergoes decommissioning, the site employs nearly 2000 people, of whom an estimated 1232 live locally.
Fusion is considered to produce four times more energy per kilogram of fuel than fission, and nearly four million times more energy than burning oil or coal.
The Liberal Democrat MP said: “Ever since I was elected to the House of Commons, I have made it my business to highlight the potential of Dounreay.
“We have a licensed site, we have a highly skilled workforce and we have a local population that warmly supports the nuclear industry.
“This is why most recently I raised the potential of Dounreay in the Commons for developing fusion energy.
“Subsequent to that, I wrote to the UK government repeating my thoughts.
“The reply I received from the minister is in no way discouraging. I am delighted that it shows that the government recognises the points I’ve made about Dounreay.
“At the end of her letter, the minister offered to meet with me to discuss this offer further. I will take this up with alacrity.
“As long as I am the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, I will continue to raise this matter with vigour.”
Key dates in Dounreay’s history (source: www.gov.uk):
1954 UK government selects wartime airfield at Dounreay as site for fast reactor research and development
1955 UK Atomic Energy Authority begins construction
1955 Craft apprentice training scheme starts
1955 The UK Atomic Energy Authority starts building housing estate in Thurso
1956 Ormlie Lodge staff hostel opens
1957 Nuclear reaction takes place for first time in criticality test cell
1957 Royal Navy announces submarine reactor test site named Vulcan
1957 Visits by the Queen Mother and the Duke of Edinburgh
1958 Materials Test Reactor goes critical
1958 Fuel reprocessing begins
1959 Experimental Dounreay Fast Reactor goes critical
1962 First electricity exported to National Grid
1966 Construction begins of Prototype Fast Reactor
1969 Materials Test Reactor shuts down
1974 Prototype Fast Reactor goes critical
1977 Experimental fast reactor shuts down
1977 Explosion in underground waste shaft
1983 Radioactive particles discovered on beaches
1986 BNFL and UKAEA announce plan to build European Demonstration Reprocessing Plant
1988 UK government announces withdrawal from fast reactor technology
1994 Prototype Fast Reactor shuts down
1996 Fuel reprocessing stops
1998 Safety audit by regulators identifies 143 recommendations for improvement
2000 UKAEA publishes site closure plan
2004 Fuel fabrication stops
2007/8 Nuclear Decommissioning Authority inherits site and Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd becomes its operator
2012 Management contracted out to Babcock consortium
2015 Removal of plutonium and uranium begins
2021 NDA takes management in-house
2023 Dounreay becomes a division of Magnox Ltd
