King Charles: King to visit Caithness to mark 70th anniversary of Dounreay nuclear site

The site was the UK’s centre of nuclear research and development between in the 1950s to the 1990s. Scientists there experimented with plutonium and uranium to generate electricity.

The King will attend a reception at Scrabster Harbour, which will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited, and the 20th anniversary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

On arrival at the harbour’s Jubilee Pier, he will meet the crew of the Pacific Heron, a second-generation purpose-built nuclear transport ship that is one of the most sophisticated in the world, and unveil a plaque.

The King will also meet sea cadets and Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteers from the region.

He will then visit Fish Market Hall and spend time meeting staff from the nuclear industry and community members from Thurso.

He will then unveil another plaque to commemorate the visit.

The Dounreay nuclear establishments were created in the 1950s and attracted some of the nation’s leading scientists and engineers to research how to generate electricity using a more advanced type of nuclear reactor.

In April 2005, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, a non-departmental public body of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, took over ownership of the facility from the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority.

After four decades of research, it is now described as “Scotland’s largest nuclear clean-up and demolition project” and a site of “construction, demolition and waste management”.

The reception will also commemorate the 50th anniversary of Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited, which ships nuclear cargoes and has operated for more than 40 years between Europe and Japan.

It describes its purpose-built ships as “three of the most advanced cargo vessels in operation”.

Decommissioning of Dounreay was initially planned to bring the site to an interim care and surveillance state by 2036, and as a brownfield site by 2336. It is now expected to take significantly longer, with the programme now set to continue until the 2070s.

Radioactive particles have previously been found on the coastline near the site, with discoveries made at Sandside beach in 2023. About 15 were found the year before.

As a precaution, fishing is prohibited within a 2km radius of a point near Dounreay, where the most hazardous fragments have been detected. The Dounreay foreshore and Sandside Bay are monitored “on a regular basis”.

Last year, a watchdog called for an increase in safety and regulation requirements at Dounreay over the state of the building.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) found leaks from low-level radioactive waste pits in its site inspections. The findings meant the nuclear watchdog moved Dounreay up one level in its three-tier regulation chart from “routine” to “enhanced” because of safety concerns.

Earlier this year, it was announced that the responsibility for decommissioning the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment, part of the Dounreay nuclear power complex, was to be transferred from the military to a civilian company.

It was reported the would allow the MoD to focus its resources on national defence.