Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd selected Graham as its preferred bidder in January, as previously reported.
Graham’s contract is for the design and construction of two underground concrete vaults for the disposal of solid waste from the site clean-up. The two concrete vaults will each be approximately 80m long by 45m wide and excavated into the Caithness Flagstone rock to a depth of approximately 20m. A shallow groundwater catchment system and deeper excavation pumping system are required, and the extracted water will be passed through a passive on-site water treatment system.
The new facility is needed for the safe, long-term management up to 175,000 cubic metres of low-level radioactive waste to complete the decommissioning and closure of the former nuclear research site. The lifetime cost of the development is expected to be in the region of £100m.
Construction is scheduled to begin in autumn 2011 and take two years to complete.
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