Experience in Choices for Decommissioning the Dounreay Site

The paper describes the public participation from the viewpoint of a stakeholder and member of the public. The dialogue between various members of the Dounreay Stakeholders Committee vary widely and do not always seem to represent the views of the wider public. Whilst great care has been taken to select various options for the ultimate condition of the Dounreay site and these have been discussed at great length and the preferred option selected by consensus, there still appears to be some conflict within the local community. It is probable that if the local population had to vote on the options for the future of the Dounreay nuclear site the outcome would be vastly different from that of the Stakeholders Committee. Whilst the politicians have been elected by the people, they represent a distinctly anti-nuclear view (even to the extent of decommissioning) whereas many local people (especially the workers on the Dounreay site) would prefer to see a continuation of nuclear activity at Dounreay. The problem is not only with local politicians but at national level in Scotland itself where the Scottish National Party has formed a coalition with the Green Party on condition all nuclear activities are phased out.