Dounreay is to open a public information centre to improve its communication about the clean-up and closure of the site.

The plant's operators have been prosecuted twice this year for pollution offences.

The new centre will give members of the public access to information about the £150m-a-year decommissioning project and let them talk directly to staff from the site.

Dounreay director Simon Middlemas said: "Members of the public cannot come on to the site itself because of the increasing amount of construction and demolition work taking place at Dounreay and the need to keep leftover nuclear materials secure.

"That means we need to reach out from the site to make it easier for members of the public and visitors to find out how their money is being spent and to communicate with us.

"The new public information centre, together with a new website for the site to be launched next April, is intended to make the site more open to the public without actually needing to step foot on it."

Located in former government offices at 7 Traill Street in the centre of Thurso, it will be open from 9am until 5pm, Monday to Friday. The centre is due to open on Monday, November 26. The new centre will be staffed by communications personnel relocated from Dounreay.