The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) at Dounreay yesterday set out its ambition to become a world-class organisation capable of competing with international contractors to win the right to clean up Britain’s nuclear legacy.

At the annual conference of the Scottish Conservatives in Dumfries, a delegation from Dounreay said the site has been transformed since the end of the 1950s experiment in fast reactor technology.

They said a new generation of engineers and scientists is establishing Dounreay’s reputation for excellence in nuclear decommissioning as it sets about cleaning up the hazardous legacy of Britain’s post-war technological dream.

UKAEA believes the new skills base in environmental restoration being developed at Dounreay can help the organisation fend off companies in the US and elsewhere who want to take over the work.

A joint UKAEA and trade union team from the site met senior political figures from Scotland’s main parties to raise support for the new era of opportunity at Dounreay and the plans of UKAEA to see it develop fully under British-owned management.

The Dounreay team hopes to build on the meetings at the recent annual conferences of the Scottish Labour and Liberal Democrat parties and now the Scottish Conservatives.

The SNP will be lobbied at its annual conference in the autumn.

Norman Harrison, director of UKAEA at Dounreay, said, “The Dounreay of today is an asset of which Scotland and the UK can be proud. The commitment of today’s UKAEA to the highest standards of safety and environmental protection is second to none and will not be bettered by our competitors.

“I want to build the broadest possible support for that, and ensure Scotland and Britain gets the full benefit of our tremendous potential here at Dounreay.”

John Deighan, a T & G union official at Dounreay, added, “We believe no one is better placed to safely dismantle a plant like Dounreay than the people who are doing the job today.

“That’s why we are standing shoulder to shoulder at the party conferences to deliver the unequivocal message to our politicians that British is best.”