British Nuclear Group, the UK nuclear site management, decommissioning and clean-up company, has received formal consent from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) to decommission Dungeness A power station once it ceases electrical generation at the end of 2006.

The first stage of decommissioning is to remove all the fuel from the two Magnox reactors and transport it to Sellafield for reprocessing. Current plans schedule this work to be completed by 2009, resulting in the removal of the vast majority of the radioactive inventory from the site. All plant and buildings, except for the reactor containment, will be removed by 2021, with final site clearance scheduled for 2111.

British Nuclear Group is currently working with Dungeness A’s owners, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, to develop a business case to accelerate the site clearance process in line with the NDA’s declared strategy.