Carroll Buxton, chief executive of Caithness and Sutherland Enterprise (CASE) said: "The decommissioning work at Dounreay has already created many opportunities for businesses in the far north of Scotland and has resulted in a number of new jobs - directly and indirectly.

"Although estimates of duration of the clean-up task have changed over the years, it has, for some time, been clear that the work will peak in intensity over the next two decades.

"We have been aware that UKAEA has been working to accelerate the clean-up programme. However, until now, there has been no indication that the change in timescale and budget would be so dramatic, or that there would be an immediate impact on jobs.

"Dounreay remains an important economic driver and, despite the revised timescale, it still offers the opportunity to continue developing an international centre of excellence in a hugely significant international industry.

"The reduction in timescale and spend does however bring into sharper focus the need to ensure that the benefit to local businesses is maximised in the short term and that, in the longer term, the experience and skills developed during the process are marketed elsewhere. It will also accelerate the need to identify alternative development opportunities to ensure a sustainable economy in the longer term.

"We will continue to work with UKAEA and others to ensure that the benefits from the decommissioning process are maximised in the north and also to lay the foundations for a sustainable economy in the far north in the longer term.

"We have to plan for a post-Dounreay era and it is to be hoped that the area will see real and lasting benefit from the alternative investment in the area of some of the huge savings to the public purse derived from the accelerated clean-up programme."