According to a new report, the site of a Scottish nuclear power plant should be available for further uses within 313 years.
From 1955 to 1994, Dounreay, near Thurso, was Britain’s site for the development of fast reactor research.
The plant on the coast of north Caithness is being removed, demolished, and cleaned up.
The Nuclear Decommissioning Agency, however, said it would be 2333 before re-use of the 148-acre site is secured.
The date is part of a recently released draft plan for the authority.
They said that “credible options” will be developed for the site in future over the next two years.
Constructions to be demolished include the distinctive Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) in the shape of a dome.
It is expected that important stages in the removal of radioactive material from the Prototype Fast Reactor (PFR) will compete over the next three years.
A target date for the cleanup of a highly polluted region called the Shaft has also been set.
It was built in the 1950s, and plunges 65.4 m (214.5 ft) under the earth.
From 1959 until 1977, when an explosion ended the activity, nuclear waste was disposed of there.
According to the NDA report waste is to be removed from the Shaft by 2029.
Over the past year the NDA spent £ 8 m to support socio-economic projects, including upgrades to Scrabster and Wick harbors.
It also supports plans for the Sutherland Space Hub, from a site near Tongue, which could facilitate up to 12 launches a year of small satellites into space.
