The Ministry of Defence has officially announced that the NDA will be considered an option for the decommissioning and clean-up of the NRTE Vulcan site in West Caithness. Speaking at the Dounreay Stakeholder Groups AGM, the announcement was welcomed as a "step in the right direction" by Cllr Struan Mackie.
"We have long believed that the NDA is the most appropriate vehicle to decommission the Vulcan site and it seems to be the most logical option and it's good that it's now on the table.
"I welcome the fact that there's a recognition of the clear and obvious joint working and crossover between the sites over the years.
Mr Mackie believed having the NDA running Vulcan would also maximise the socio-economic spin-offs for the far north.
He added that the experience of Dounreay being run by a private consortium had not been good. He said: "I think most people in the community thought that it had been an unmitigated disaster."