Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Dounreay
Dounreay (/ˌduːnˈreɪ/; Scottish Gaelic: Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road nine miles (fourteen kilometres) west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were created in the 1950s. They were the Nuclear Power Development Establishment (NPDE), now known as NRS Dounreay, for the development of civil fast breeder reactors, and the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE), a military submarine reactor testing facility. Both have ended operations and are being decommissioned. The two establishments have been a major element in the economy of Thurso and Caithness, but this will decrease with the progress of decommissioning.
NRS Dounreay will enter an interim care and surveillance state by 2036, and become a brownfield site by 2336.[citation needed] An announcement in July 2020 that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will be taking over direct management of the site from the site licence company Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) in 2021 has alleviated fears of 560 job losses.
The NRTE is to be decommissioned under a ten-year contract starting in 2023, ending in the creation of a brownfield site, which would be transferred to the NDA.
Dounreay is the site of Dounreay Castle (now a ruin) and its name derives from the Gaelic for 'fort on a mound'. Dounreay was the site of the battle of Sandside Chase in 1437. Robert Gordon's map of Caithness, 1642, uses Dounrae as the name of the castle. William J. Watson's The Celtic Place-names of Scotland gives the origin as Dúnrath, possibly a reference to a broch.
Dounreay was the site of a Second World War airfield, named RAF Dounreay. It became HMS Tern (II) in 1944 when the airfield was transferred to the Admiralty from RAF Coastal Command as a satellite of HMS Tern at Twatt in Orkney. It never saw any action during the war and was placed into care and maintenance in 1949.
The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is proposed to be constructed about 7.5 km (4.7 mi; 4.0 nmi) offshore north of Dounreay. As of January 2026[update], it is expected to be commissioned in 2030.
There are two nuclear sites at Lower Dounreay built on and around the site of the former airfield. The Nuclear Power Development Establishment site is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) but was previously owned and run by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Adjacent to this site is the Ministry of Defence Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment. The two sites are best known for their five nuclear reactors, three formerly owned and operated by the UKAEA and two by the Ministry of Defence.
Hub AI
Dounreay AI simulator
(@Dounreay_simulator)
Dounreay
Dounreay (/ˌduːnˈreɪ/; Scottish Gaelic: Dùnrath) is a small settlement and the site of two large nuclear establishments on the north coast of Caithness in the Highland area of Scotland. It is on the A836 road nine miles (fourteen kilometres) west of Thurso.
The nuclear establishments were created in the 1950s. They were the Nuclear Power Development Establishment (NPDE), now known as NRS Dounreay, for the development of civil fast breeder reactors, and the Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment (NRTE), a military submarine reactor testing facility. Both have ended operations and are being decommissioned. The two establishments have been a major element in the economy of Thurso and Caithness, but this will decrease with the progress of decommissioning.
NRS Dounreay will enter an interim care and surveillance state by 2036, and become a brownfield site by 2336.[citation needed] An announcement in July 2020 that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) will be taking over direct management of the site from the site licence company Dounreay Site Restoration Limited (DSRL) in 2021 has alleviated fears of 560 job losses.
The NRTE is to be decommissioned under a ten-year contract starting in 2023, ending in the creation of a brownfield site, which would be transferred to the NDA.
Dounreay is the site of Dounreay Castle (now a ruin) and its name derives from the Gaelic for 'fort on a mound'. Dounreay was the site of the battle of Sandside Chase in 1437. Robert Gordon's map of Caithness, 1642, uses Dounrae as the name of the castle. William J. Watson's The Celtic Place-names of Scotland gives the origin as Dúnrath, possibly a reference to a broch.
Dounreay was the site of a Second World War airfield, named RAF Dounreay. It became HMS Tern (II) in 1944 when the airfield was transferred to the Admiralty from RAF Coastal Command as a satellite of HMS Tern at Twatt in Orkney. It never saw any action during the war and was placed into care and maintenance in 1949.
The Pentland Floating Offshore Wind Farm is proposed to be constructed about 7.5 km (4.7 mi; 4.0 nmi) offshore north of Dounreay. As of January 2026[update], it is expected to be commissioned in 2030.
There are two nuclear sites at Lower Dounreay built on and around the site of the former airfield. The Nuclear Power Development Establishment site is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) but was previously owned and run by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. Adjacent to this site is the Ministry of Defence Vulcan Naval Reactor Test Establishment. The two sites are best known for their five nuclear reactors, three formerly owned and operated by the UKAEA and two by the Ministry of Defence.