WORKERS decommissioning the Dounreay nuclear site feel undermined, undervalued and are deeply concerned about health and safety, claiming managers give higher priority to hitting targets than their duty of care.

The GMB union is now seeking an urgent meeting with the Scottish Government to discuss the findings of a survey of its members at the Caithness plant.

The survey revealed concerns over a perceived lack of control shown through recent safety incidents. The union said one worker had summed up the feelings of many with the statement: “How many fires, people getting hurt, improvement notices, environmental non-compliance, main entrance barriers getting damaged, stress cases and bullies, fuel/oil spills and missed equipment does it take..."

The high turnover of senior management; low levels of staff morale; high sickness levels, and the poor value to the taxpayer of the decommissioning programme, have also been highlighted in the survey.

In addition the workers’ sense of alienation was exacerbated by discontent over pay issues and bonuses.

The last Dounreay reactor ceased operation in 1994 and in 1996 the reprocessing of nuclear fuel ended.

The plant is currently being decommissioned and demolished by Dounreay Site Restoration Ltd (DSRL) under a contract from UK Nuclear Decommissioning Agency (NDA) which owns the site.

Liz Gordon, GMB organiser, has now written to the Scottish Government seeking a meeting with Business Minister Fergus Ewing.

In her letter, she said: “I’m sure you will agree that the matters raised are of significance, with such public concern about the site, not to mention public funds.”

She also raises concerns for the future: "There are concerns within the community for what happens after the Dounreay closure - the Nuclear Archives are finally being built, investment has been put into Scrabster and Wick Harbours but how many jobs have been created? We have seen several companies closing within the community adding to the anxiety and unemployed totals.

“If much of the future belongs to renewable energy and the hope of resurgence in the oil industry then significant investment in the local skill market is required. The economic legacy of the Dounreay Programme has not been fully grasped and unfortunately the latest contract management team have performed lamentably in this sphere.”

In 2008 the site closure programme was accelerated to a target date of 2025 at estimated cost of £2.6 billion. But earlier this year the programme was revised at request of NDA to accommodate additional work, resulting in a new shutdown date of 2030.

DSRL, a consortium of Babcock International Group, CH2MHILL and URS, employs up to 800 people on the site with several hundred workers employed by contractors also on-site.

A spokeswoman for DSRL said the company was preparing a response to the GMB.