Waste Vaults at Dounreay

Posted: 29th January 2022

Dounreay’s operators have planning permission for six low level radioactive waste vaults with a total capacity of 175,000 cubic metres. Two were completed between 2011 and 2014. Each can hold the equivalent of between 370 and 450 double decker buses. The next phase of construction could start between this year and 2026. The vaults have been designed to store waste, which is held in containers filled with cement-based grout, for hundreds of years. Dounreay said after 300 years, about 90% of the total radioactivity initially disposed of in the stores will have decayed. It said the average radioactivity of the remaining material would be comparable to that currently found naturally in soils around Dounreay. The facilities are expected to take thousands of years to “slowly degrade”. BBC 25th Jan 2022  https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-60116278