Twenty workers at a Scottish nuclear site have been made redundant.
The staff all work with contracted firms at Dounreay in Caithness, which is being decommissioned at a cost of £1.6billion.
No staff from site operators Dounreay Site Restoration Limited have been affected by the redundancies.
A spokeswoman at Dounreay said: “Companies in the decommissioning operatives framework agreement have been informed that the resource required will reduce by around 15 per cent.
“This equates to up to 20 posts from across all areas with the exception of high-priority projects.
“Overall the site’s workforce has increased by more than 200 in the last 18 months, while there will still be 20 more people employed on this framework than there was a year ago.
“Decommissioning is project focused and this framework was intended to offer extra resource flexibility and specific skills when required.
“Plans are constantly being reviewed to ensure priority is given to the highest hazards and that the workforce is used efficiently across the site.”
