Chancellor non-committal over request to guarantee cash for Dounreay

12.00.00am GMT Fri 7th Dec 2007

Local MP John Thurso has called for Chancellor Alasdair Darling to guarantee funding for the decommissioning of Dounreay before the announcement of expected deep cuts in the New Year.

After receiving a non-committal response from the Chancellor, John has submitted a formal request to the Treasury for the guarantee as any reduction could only come at the expense of jobs.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority spends about £150 million a year on the decommissioning and Dounreay is widely acknowledged to be a superb example of how decommissioning should be carried out.

John warned that any decrease in the annual funding could have a huge impact on the fragile northern economy, hitting jobs hard and making difficult to attract new industries like the potential tidal power developments in the Pentland Firth.

John said:

"Decommissioning is not something that can be 'switched on' and 'off' on an annual basis as all of the projects are interlinked."

"A mothball option of reducing spending to around £90 million would not only prolong decommissioning but would increase the overall cost and substantially increase value to the taxpayers. It would also involve a substantial reduction in employment. There are skilled workers and engineers who would be obliged to seek work outwith the local community and would not therefore be available when proper decommissioning recommenced."