Dounreay is coming apart...

March 25, 2010 11:46 PM

In 1954 the UK Atomic Energy Authority established a research campus at a distant, disused airfield in Caithness, Scotland. The mission: develop fast breeder reactor technology. In 1988, they chose to conclude the research and in 2000 to decommission the site. This 32-year cleanup now underway is chronicled at a most snazzy website...

How do you take apart a large research campus full of sealed-off laboratories, asbestos, acidic "radioactive liquor", and highly-reactive NaK coolant? How about a 65m intermediate level waste-filled vertical shaft that spontaniously exploded in 1977? well, the website has some answers, but highlights include lengthy videos and the glossy monthly newsletter. If all else fails, there's always household cleaner...

posted by tss (8 comments total)

... so, um, why are they closing it? They don't really go into detail about that.
posted by Afroblanco at 12:18 AM on March 26, 2010

It probably reached the end of its useful life. FBRs are not widely used in the western world for several reasons (technological, economic and political), so they didn't want to build a new one in its place.
posted by Dr Dracator at 5:37 AM on March 26, 2010

It's pronounced DOON-ray, if anyone's wondering.
posted by gubo at 6:12 AM on March 26, 2010

really? I thought it was more doon-RAY.

In the late 1950s, my grandfather (a sales consultant to a rock drilling company) was asked about drilling an undersea shaft for disposal of nuclear waste from Dounreay straight into the sea. They gave up on the idea after even the consultants rebelled.
posted by scruss at 6:18 AM on March 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Yeah, it closed because it had reached the end of its useful life. Both reactors on site were experimental, so their power output and lifespan weren't particularly high I think. I worked there for a couple of summers, and yeah, as tss points out, the real comedy/horror stories come from the 'Shaft', and what ungodly crap might be at the bottom.
posted by theyexpectresults at 6:48 AM on March 26, 2010

Charles Stross tours the AGR at Torness
posted by Artw at 7:47 AM on March 26, 2010

gah. link here.
posted by Artw at 7:48 AM on March 26, 2010

the real comedy/horror stories come from the 'Shaft', and what ungodly crap might be at the bottom.

I hope they take samples to see if there's anything living in it. There might be bacteria with some remarkable adaptations.
posted by jedicus at 9:04 AM on March 26, 2010