[en] The Dounreay site is situated on the north coast of Scotland, mainland United Kingdom, and since the 1950s it has been instrumental in fast breeder research and fuel reprocessing plant development. The work programme on the site has changed, and is now one of safe decommissioning and site restoration. Previous papers have discussed and reviewed progress during the very early stages of the decommissioning programme and this paper provides an update on the work programme from a primarily radiation protection perspective. This paper discusses progress in decommissioning the Dounreay site and the adoption of 'tried and tested', as well as innovative techniques to achieve this decommissioning safely. This includes detailed discussion of the radiation protection aspects of decommissioning, and the consideration and implementation of various radiological protection controls within varying decommissioning environments, such as: a) Remote operations; b) Robotics; c) Shielding; d) Remote readout dosimetry (during personnel entry into elevated dose rate areas). The change from an operational to a decommissioning work programme at Dounreay, created a requirement to modify the type and variety of radiological personal protective equipment (PPE) available. The selection of appropriate PPE, utilised following exhaustion of the hierarchy of controls, to remove the residual radiological risk to personnel is discussed within the paper. The benefit of developing this PPE, as well as other controls, in collaboration with the operatives performing the work, is clearly obvious. The paper concludes with a review of the relative merits and success of the decommissioning techniques that have been adopted, from a radiological protection perspective, together with a summary of lessons learnt. (author)

[en] The Dounreay site is situated on the north coast of Scotland, mainland United Kingdom, and since the 1950s it has been instrumental in fast breeder research and fuel reprocessing plant development. The work programme on the site has changed, and is now one of safe decommissioning and site restoration. Previous papers have discussed and reviewed progress during the very early stages of the decommissioning programme and this paper provides an update on the work programme from a primarily radiation protection perspective. This paper discusses progress in decommissioning the Dounreay site and the adoption of 'tried and tested', as well as innovative techniques to achieve this decommissioning safely. This includes detailed discussion of the radiation protection aspects of decommissioning, and the consideration and implementation of various radiological protection controls within varying decommissioning environments, such as: Remote operations; Robotics; Shielding; Remote readout dosimetry (during personnel entry into elevated dose rate areas). The change from an operational to a decommissioning work programme at Dounreay, created a requirement to modify the type and variety of radiological personal protective equipment (PPE) available. The selection of appropriate PPE, utilised following exhaustion of the hierarchy of controls, to remove the residual radiological risk to personnel is discussed within the paper. The benefit of developing this PPE, as well as other controls, in collaboration with the operatives performing the work, is clearly obvious. The paper concludes with a review of the relative merits and success of the decommissioning techniques that have been adopted, from a radiological protection perspective, together with a summary of lessons learnt. (author)