Nuclear decommissioning and Just Transition
- Funder: Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, Nuclear Decommissioning Centre
- Status: March 2024-December 2024
- Project lead: Tavis Potts
- Project team: Keith Bender, Clare Bond, John Bone, Tavis Potts, Daria Shapovalova
- Project summary: This research project explores how the role of decommissioning of a historical nuclear facility impacts the surrounding local community. It explores the potential for decommissioning as a driver for building future skills and capacities for economic diversification and local resilience. Drawing upon the policy framework of a just transition, the project explores how decommissioning processes aligns with national and regional visions for a Net Zero focused economy, how the process of change is engaging with community aspirations for the local economy, and how the policy drivers for a Just Transition are recreated in a remote rural community that faces significant change. The case study focuses on Dounreay in the Caithness region and identifies both local and contextual aspects of change and broader comparative lessons that localities face in the decommissioning process