Nuclear Caithness

The little north-coast settlement of Dounreay has a big history for such a remote spot. Having spent time as a World War II airfield, it then saw the building of two large nuclear power establishments in the 1950s, turning the area into the UK’s centre of fast reactor research and development for more than four decades. Unsurprisingly, the intervening years weren’t without controversy, and both establishments are in the process of being fully decommissioned. As if to highlight the complexity of the topic, meanwhile, Caithness recently failed in its bid to host the world’s first nuclear fusion power station. Those interested in hearing more about the region’s nuclear history, as well as the wider story of nuclear power in the UK, should head to Wick Airport, where Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives are based. Here you’ll find some seventy years’ worth of archives from Britain’s civil nuclear industry, with plans, drawings, photographs, film, and more. Booked appointments and drop-ins are both welcome.