The UK Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has delivered the last batch of fuel elements to be manufactured at Dounreay, near Caithness in Scotland.
Eight elements have been delivered to SCK of Belgium, bringing to an end the supply of nuclear fuel elements from the site that began operating in January 1957.
Approximately 10,000 uranium elements, which powered research reactors in the UK and abroad, were manufactured at Dounreay through to March 2004. UKAEA ceased fuel manufacturing at Dounreay last year and the fuel fabrication plant, known as D1202, is now being cleaned out on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and is scheduled for early demolition in 2007.
The delivery of the eight elements to the BR2 reactor at Mol in Belgium sees all the fuel manufactured in D1202 removed from the site.
