Dounreay Dome

[orkneycadian]

Is he still alive? Would be a good architect to help with the plans for dismantling it.

[John Little]

I shall pass your suggestion on to his family- I do not know if he is still alive. He may be.

[John Little]

http://www.ticcih.org/

[John Little]

The International Committee for the Conservation of the Industrial Heritage has a quarterly bulletin which I placed a link to in the post above. Since I have now permission to use it, here is the full text of the article in it;

"Opinion

Last year a report by Atkins Heritage on the Dounreay nuclear site provided judgments which form the basis for a decision that the Dounreay Sphere will ultimately be demolished. The report has been accepted by Dounreay Site Restoration Limited,(DSRL) the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Historic Scotland (HS). It has been presented as a definitive approach to assessing nuclear sites and accepted by an uncritical media as the final word on the matter. However, critical analysis of the Atkins Report reveals it to be an imperfect instrument in pronouncing sentence of death on an iconic and historic structure.

The Sphere, designed by architect Richard S Brocklesby, was erected between 1955 and 1959. Made of steel, which on average, is one inch thick, it is a blast-proof vessel strong enough to contain a chemical explosion in its reactor. The design was empirical because no spheroid of this size had ever been built anywhere in the world. Reinforced concrete foundations were laid into solid rock for a cylindrical anchor block, onto which were clamped steel plates, which were then welded. Each weld was tested electronically and each zinc-coated plate was rolled individually. The result was a remarkable feat of design, construction and engineering; a perfectly spherical building with a diameter of 135 feet, containing 1500 tons of steel, over two miles of welds, and with a surface area of 1.5 acres; the largest spherical building in Europe, and possibly the world. As architecture it is a startling, geometric and alien intervention into the landscape, a universal statement of man’s aspirations, and a masterpiece of its designer’s art. Inside is a cathedral-like space as large as the dome of St Paul’s a paradigm of 20th century industrial innovation.

Its merit has long been recognized internationally. ICOMoS, supported by the Twentieth Century Society and the Association for Industrial Archaeology has recommended it to UNESCO as one of 18 sites in Britain worthy of consideration for World Heritage status.

In 1962 it fulfilled its first purpose as its experimental reactor went critical, becoming the first fast breeder in the world to supply electricity to a national grid. It continued to do so until 1977.

The Atkins Report, deprecatory with faint praise, makes claims that the Sphere cannot be retained on the basis of statements that are at least subjective, and sometimes inaccurate.

‘…the risk of receiving a radiation dose may never go away.’

Scientist Michael Cowie, former radiation protection advisor in the Sphere says; ‘This is simply not true’.

The NDA itself states that it is only lightly contaminated.

Atkins claims that the nuclear achievement within the Sphere ‘…is an example of a rare nuclear technology that is now largely but not wholly extinct.’ Yet Japan’s 2007 decision to develop fast breeder technology in partnership with France, and similar decisions taken by Korea, India and China indicate otherwise. Subjective and unreferenced judgments are presented as unquestionable fact as the Sphere is judged on its ability to confer ‘significant benefits’ and found wanting. All that would be left after decommissioning would be a” ‘shell’….its core values removed”, a statement which few architects would make about this building.

Claims of contamination, radiation, and difficulty of access as reasons for demolition fade away in DSRL’s admission that ‘ while the condition of the Sphere upon completion of decommissioning isn’t known there is plenty of time for any organization to come forward with a proposal for its redevelopment that doesn’t compromise the decommissioning of the site as a whole, nor add to the total cost’.

In other words, flexibility is needed so that DSRL may do as they wish in order to proceed with decontamination. Historic Scotland cannot over-ride safety priorities, so cannot list the sphere. A statement of determination to demolish the sphere allows the demolition company to proceed freely, which a statement of intention to preserve would not.

At the end of the process, the Sphere, safely decontaminated, will stand for a period then be destroyed. It fills all criteria for listing and preservation, but its geographical position, a set of subjective reasons for demolition, and paucity of cash will dictate its end.

Yet it could be saved; it stands in the middle of a 150 acre site where there are Neolithic remains, a castle, the site of two battles, and a world war two airfield as well as a need for tourist attractions in an area rapidly becoming economically depressed.

Ultimately it may fall by what may seem a lack of imagination to some, or mere utilitarianism to others.

[ducati]

I was in the locale the other day, the dome is looking very rust streaked, I might have to revise my bid.

Also what's left of the runway (used as a carpark) would make a great drag strip. Dounreay Pod anyone?

[John Little]

I was in the locale the other day, the dome is looking very rust streaked, I might have to revise my bid.

Also what's left of the runway (used as a carpark) would make a great drag strip. Dounreay Pod anyone?

That, at least, is imaginative.

[John Little]

Action: DSG/SRSG(2011)M003/A002: All site restoration sub group members to provide comment on the Scottish Governments consultation on Dounreay’s Radioactive waste substitution.
• Dounreay Heritage Strategy: DSG had received a report written by a number of people who are opposed to the demolition of DFR.
-1-
"Endorsed on 20th April 2011
Simon Middlemas stated that the site had also received a copy of the report and had written to the authors inviting them to visit Dounreay Stuart Chalmers confirmed that the NDA and UK Government had also received copies and that responses were being prepared.
Simon Middlemas noted that the DFR sphere was not programmed to be demolished for at least 15 years and if someone came up with a robust business case for retention of the dome then it could be considered further down the road. However, at this point the site had to make a decision to allow the lifetime plan to be fully populated and that decision was for demolition."

http://www.dounreaystakeholdergroup....wnload1783.pdf


And so let the matter, for the moment, rest.

[Moira]

<snip>

And so let the matter, for the moment, rest.

Yes, maybe we should do that but, in the meantime, I'll be keeping all my muscles flexed.

[John Little]

Well yes indeed Moira - that would be a good stance to take.

The point is that it has been established that the Dounreay Sphere, in principle, can be saved.

All that stuff published last year about radiation, difficulty of access and contamination is nothing more than fog obscuring the fact that it is possible to retain that building.

Whether it should be retained or not is another debate.

But the way is clear and apparent. If some group of local business people, National Trust for Scotland, HIE, Historic Scotland or anybody else wishes to save it, then by coming up with a 'robust business plan' then they may do so and will be listened to at some point in the future.

Nobody can do anything at the moment because, by law, DSRL have to decommission the sphere.

But that the possibility is open is enough for now.