NRS Dounreay socio economic annual review 2024/25
An report outlining the socio economic activities carried out by NRS Dounreay during the financial year 2024/25,
Documents
Details
Introduction
NRS Dounreay is Scotland’s largest decommissioning project and for more than 50 years was known as the centre of the UK’s fast reactor research and development and is on the way to being recognised as a centre of excellence for nuclear decommissioning.
Dounreay believes that decommissioning activities should benefit local communities living in Caithness and north Sutherland and that we must provide a positive impact both during decommissioning and upon completion of our mission. Our socio economic undertakings flow from the Energy Act (2004), which provides us with a unique legal duty to have regard for the impact of our activities on communities living near our site, as well as the wider responsibilities all public bodies have under the Social Value Act (2012).
Dounreay is a large employer in the local area and contributes significantly to the salary base of Caithness and north Sutherland. Purchases of goods and services in pursuit of our mission also support a strong local, regional, and national, supply chain.
Through the recent formation of Nuclear Restoration Services (NRS), Dounreay works closely with other NRS sites to share knowledge and expertise on socio economic matters, managing Dounreay’s socio economic budget for the benefit of the communities of Caithness and north Sutherland.
Dounreay continues to work in partnership with the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to support socio economic activity in the area. The NDA complements the significant socio economic impact in Caithness and north Sutherland generated through Dounreay’s decommissioning budget through the provision of additional grant funding support.
Dounreay has strong links into government, the supply chain, and local community groups and alongside the NDA works closely with other public and private sector organisations through the Focus North partnership. The partnership has a vision of a sustainable region, providing a healthy, economically stable environment for a growing population with a network of thriving communities reflecting the rich heritage and varied landscapes of the area.
At the end of 2024/25 Dounreay published the NRS Dounreay Socio Economic Impact Strategy 2025/26 to 2027/28 which reinforces our commitment to monitoring, reporting and transparency, and the publication of this annual review. This aligns with the NDA Social Impact and Communities Strategy April 2024 - GOV.UK.
Supply chain spend
Dounreay is committed to ensuring strong working relationships with the supply chain.
Dounreay had £213 million of net-expenditure in 2024/25 of which £117.7 million was through the supply chain. Dounreay is an anchor of the local economy and supports a wide range of companies, including local small and medium enterprises (SMEs). A core component of Dounreay socio economic impact is through the direct purchase of goods and services with over 54% of expenditure with companies owned or resourced within Caithness and north Sutherland. Excluding mandatory spend, approximately £1 in every £3 is spent with SMEs.
Work will be undertaken in 2025/2026 to quantify the economic benefit of supply chain spend to the area and wider UK.
Supply chain spend overview:
| £117.7 million | total supply chain spend |
| £64 million | Caithness owned or Caithness resourced companies |
| £82.6 million | Non-mandatory and non-utility spend |
| £31.2 milliion | Small and medium enterprise companies |
| £15.5million | Caithness owned small and medium enterprise companies |
These numbers represent different shares of spend and do not total.
Staffing
Employment at Dounreay is vital to Caithness and north Sutherland with a positive impact across Scotland and the rest of the UK. In 2024/2025 the total number of people employed by Dounreay was 1,367. Work to quantify the economic benefit of employment is underway and will be published later in 2025/2026.
In 2022 when the most recent analysis was completed the site employed 1,283 employees, of which 1,232 (96%) lived locally to the site. In addition, there were around 700 supply chain workers at the site. Locally based employees represent around 11% of all Caithness and Sutherland employment.
The most recent economic analysis highlights that Dounreay has a Gross Value Added (GVA) per employee of £55,900 per annum. This is almost double the Highland Council area. Dounreay salaries represent around 15% of the total payroll in Caithness and Sutherland. In total, economic data suggests Dounreay contributes a ‘labour only’ £77.4m GVA per annum to the local economy and £167.2m to the UK.
Labour only GVA impact on Dounreay activity
| £57.6 million | direct |
| £19.8 million | indirect |
| £10.5 million | of which supplier linkage |
| £9.3 million | of which agency or contract staff |
| £77.4 million | total ‘labour only’ GVA |
Early careers
Dounreay has been recruiting engineering apprentices for over 60 years, and the 4-year engineering apprentice programme is approved by 2 of the largest professional engineering institutions in the UK; the Institution of Engineering and Technology and Institute of Mechanical Engineers.
Dounreay recognises the role modern apprenticeships have in developing existing staff and growing new talent. Dounreay offers an 18-month formal training programme for business and administration apprentices.
Graduate development is fundamental in successfully securing our business and technical leaders of the future. Our 2-year programme includes placements, off and on-the-job training, technical workshops, chartership support, as well as personal and leadership development.
Creating an environment where early careers can thrive has a positive impact in Caithness and north Sutherland where the population is both shrinking and ageing. Retention and attraction of early careers in the area through skilled, well paid jobs, helps to mitigate against demographic challenges faced by the area.
Recruitment in 2024/25
- 10 engineering apprentices
- 10 summer students
- 2 business apprentices
- 9 health physics trainees
- 11 graduates
- 1 construction apprentices
Demonstrating a commitment to the workforce of the future Dounreay has trained a total of 1,178 apprentices since 1955 and 118 graduates since 2015.
Socio economic grant funding
Dounreay funds projects using 5 socio economic themes:
- sustainable incomes
- resilient economies
- thriving communities
- protecting and improving our environment
- new social ideas
In 2024/25 Dounreay committed £972,297 in socio economic grant funding, an increase of around 30% from 2023/2024. The total, including Dounreay-managed NDA funding, was £1,122,064. This total of Dounreay-funded and Dounreay-managed NDA funding, leveraged an additional £6.1 million of private and public sector investment into Caithness and north Sutherland. Every £1 spent by Dounreay leveraged an additional £5.50 of community investment.
| Focus North programme manager | £45,626 |
| Caithness Transport Forum | £10,000 |
| North Coast Visitor Attraction | £48,000 |
| Venture North | £58,500 |
| Transport for Tongue | £10,000 |
| HomeStart Caithness | £16,000 |
| Scottish Surfing Federation Championships | £10,000 |
| Wick PSO contract officer | £30,000 |
| Wick Development Trust – campsite redevelopment | £125,000 |
| John O’Groats mill redevelopment | £50,000 |
| Melness Crofters Estate – Cala Sona business plan | £1,250 |
| Melness Crofters Estate – Melness church purchase | £480 |
| Sidh Chailleann Art – Industrial Caithness | £12,000 |
| Ormlie Community Association operations | £20,000 |
| Dunbeath and District operations manager | £24,938 |
| Thurso Community Development Trust operations | £16,667 |
| Taste North Festival | £10,000 |
| UpNorth! Project officer | £18,177 |
| Caithness Science Festival | £8,000 |
| Melness Crofters Estate Science Centre feasibility study | £20,000 |
| SCOPE @ Noss Primary equipment | £9,000 |
| Caithness Business Fund FutureSkills apprenticeship programme | £80,000 |
| Caithness Business Fund FutureSkills graduate programme | £100,000 |
| North Highland Initiative – community infrastructure support programme | £100,000 |
| North Highland Initiative – farm cluster and baselining pilot | £72,186 |
| Caithness Sports Council | £10,000 |
| Dounreay Communities Fund | £35,000 |
| STEM funding | £20,973 |
| Caithness Chamber of Commerce membership | £10,500 |
| Total Dounreay funding | £972,297 |
| Focus North support hub | |
| Recruit North Highland | £58,000 |
| Business development manager | £21,767 |
| Total | £79,767 |
| Additional NDA funding | |
| Caithness Business Fund apprenticeship programme | £70,000 |
| Total | £70,000 |
| Total Dounreay and Dounreay-managed NDA funding | £1,122,064 |
FutureSkills programme
Following discussions with stakeholders and businesses, the Caithness Business Fund was identified by Focus North partners as a suitable vehicle to support apprenticeship growth in the north Highlands. Business surveys had shown an appetite to increase apprenticeship numbers in the area across several disciplines if there was a more incentivised scheme to cover higher training and salary costs in the early years of an apprenticeship when productivity and return on investment is much lower.
In response to this the NDA, NRS Dounreay and West of Orkney Wind Farm supported the FutureSkills apprenticeship grant scheme that was launched by the fund in February 2024 with £150,000 of funding (the parties contributed £50,000 each).
Due to the successful uptake of the programme NRS Dounreay and the NDA committed further support in 2025 of £70,000 and £80,000 respectively for a total of £150,000. FutureSkills apprenticeship grants have been awarded over 3 years to companies involved in plumbing and heating, fabrication and welding, joinery, light vehicle maintenance and repair, and electrical.
NRS Dounreay also committed £100,000 towards a bespoke graduate scheme which enables businesses to take on a graduate for 2 years. The programme won the 2025 NDA Employee Awards Best Socio Economic Initiative Award.
| £180,000 | NRS Dounreay |
| £70,000 | NDA |
| £250,000 | Total |
NDA: Nucleus
In 2017 Nucleus, the Nuclear and Caithness Archives, opened in Wick to manage the UK nuclear industry’s records. The archives deliver ongoing employment and spend in the area local to Dounreay.
Nucleus was sited in Caithness as part of an NDA socio economic remit to build the archives in a priority area, where nuclear decommissioning could have a significant impact on the local economy.
| 55 | Total employees |
| £2.9million | Fixed annual spend |
| £1.5 million to £2 million | Annual project spend |
| £4.4 million to £4.9 million | Total annual spend |
- Project costs are split between Wick and Warrington, so an indicative range of spend in Caithness is given.
Focus North
Focus North is an informal partnership established to deliver transformational initiatives in the north of mainland Scotland to generate economic growth and lead the net zero economy. The goals are to:
- develop a fairer, resilient, more balanced economy
- expand the working population
- grow and diversify a sustainable economy
- increase the number of private sector businesses operating locally
- attract investment
The vision is that of a sustainable region, providing a healthy, economically stable environment for a growing population with a network of thriving communities reflecting the rich heritage and varied landscapes of the area.
The partners are:
- North Highland Chamber of Commerce (formerly called Caithness Chamber of Commerce)
- Highlands and Islands Enterprise
- Highland Council
- NDA
- NRS Dounreay
- Skills Development Scotland
- UHI North, West and Hebrides
- Scottish Government.
NDA and Dounreay support a range of development activity in the area with 2024/2025 support hub funding used to:
- employ a Focus North business development manager and
- employ a talent attraction specialist through Recruit North Highland
to help address wider area economic challenges.
| £79,767 | Support hub (NDA) |
| £45,626 | Programme manager and support |
| £125,393 | Total |
Caithness and North Sutherland Fund
The Caithness and North Sutherland Fund was established by the NDA and Dounreay to distribute funding to community organisations for projects that will increase the attractiveness of Caithness and north Sutherland as a place to live, work and invest with particular emphasis on achieving environmental, social, cultural and infrastructure improvements. The fund is governed by an independent board.
The funding package was agreed as part of the development of a disposal facility for low level waste arising from the decommissioning of Dounreay.
The NDA committed £4 million to the fund – £1 million at the start of construction in 2011 and £300,000 in 2014 and each year until 2023. The fund is still open to new applications.
| £3.3 million | Total funding committed |
| £15.5million | Total project value |
Split of projects:
| Infrastructure | 33% |
| Environmental | 10% |
| Cultural | 16% |
| Social | 41% |
Dounreay Communities Fund
The Dounreay Communities Fund supports community organisations and local charities in Caithness and North Sutherland. The fund has individual awards capped at a value of £5,000, which increased to £7,500 in 2024 onwards. It is overseen by the Dounreay Stakeholder Group Socio Economic sub-group.
| £31,345 | Annual funding |
| £37,462 | Leveraged funding |
| £68,807 | Total project value |
| 19 | Organisations supported |
Dounreay Employees Charity Fund
The Dounreay Employees Charity Fund is a voluntary scheme with Dounreay employees donating a sum of money each month from their salaries to support local groups.
| £2 per month | donation from Dounreay employees |
| £15,112 | Total funding delivered |
| 21 | Organisations supported |
Summary
This summary provides details of Dounreay and NDA support.
Dounreay is a major local employer and buyer of goods and services and in 2024/2025:
- Dounreay had a total spend of £213 million of which £117.7 million was spent with the supply chain
- Dounreay had a total spend of £64 million with Caithness or Caithness resourced companies
- Dounreay had a total spend of £32 million with small and medium sized enterprises
- using 2022 figures, Dounreay had an estimated labour only GVA impact of £77.4 million locally and £167.2 million in the UK
The NDA invested into the social and economic wellbeing of the local area:
- a £50,000 contribution to the FutureSkills apprenticeship programme
- an ongoing commitment of £4.4 million to £4.9 million into Nucleus in Wick supporting 55 jobs in Caithness
- a 3 year, £487,000 funding package for the Focus North support hub for economic development enabling activity
Dounreay supported Caithness and north Sutherland with socio economic grant funding:
- Dounreay spent £972,000 in socio economic grant funding across a range of local community skills, wellbeing, and infrastructure initiatives
- Dounreay managed an additional £150,000 of NDA funding for a total of £1.1 million of support provided in the area
- total funding committed leveraged an additional £6.1 million from other public and private sector partners
The NDA and NRS Dounreay are committed to supporting socio economic development in Caithness and north Sutherland and continue to work with multiple partners and stakeholders to explore opportunities to deliver greater social impact in the area.