A 16-piece tool dubbed the world's most sophisticated Swiss Army knife is to help dismantle the Dounreay Fast Reactor (DFR) in Caithness.
The device cost �20m to design and build and will operate in highly radioactive conditions inside Dounreay's landmark Dome.
Its detachable tool bits cost �100,000 each and weigh between 37-93kg.
They will cut and grab 977 metal rods once used to "breed" plutonium from uranium.
Measuring about 2.5m (8ft) in length, the rods resemble thin sections of scaffolding.
UK government agency, Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), has proposed transporting the metal, which is known as breeder material, by train to Sellafield in Cumbria to be reprocessed.
<<Print>>