UKAEA says no nuclear risk from Dounreay strike

["Sandy Perle" <sandyfl@earthlink.net>]

UKAEA says no nuclear risk from Dounreay strike
  
EDINBURGH, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Britain's nuclear decommissioning 
body moved to calm fears on Friday that a planned two-day strike 
at the troubled Dounreay nuclear plant on Scotland's northern 
coast might put the public at risk. 

More than 100 workers, members of the Amalgamated Engineering 
and Electrical Union (AEEU), at the remote plant have voted for a 
two-day strike later in February in a dispute over pay and 
conditions. 

The UK Atomic Energy Authority acknowledged the industrial 
action would hold up decommissioning work at the accident-prone 
plant, but said safety would not be affected. 

"The AEEU and other unions have guaranteed that safety cover will 
always be maintained," a spokesman said. 

Nobody from AEEU was immediately available for comment. 

The Dounreay strikers, who had rejected a three-percent pay 
increase, represent just over 10 percent of the workforce on the 
site, which is run by the UKAEA. 

Dounreay is Britain's most complex nuclear site, home to three 
reactors which are now closed, and is concerned with 
decommissioning plant, fuel reprocessing and waste management. 

When it was built in the 1950s, it was at the cutting edge of fast-
reactor nuclear technology. 

But mounting health and safety criticism, and a catalogue of errors -
- which included using household Polyfilla and Plaster of Paris to 
solidify nuclear waste -- forced the government to shut down 
commercial reprocessing in 1998. 

Last October, the government outlined a plan to restore the plant to 
its natural state by 2060. 
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Personal Website: http://sandyfl.nukeworker.net
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