The Atomics

Highlights the significance of Dounreay to the nation in being the UK's centre for research and development into nuclear fast reactors
Details how it affected a small and remote rural community, particularly the market town of Thurso, Caithness
Published to mark the 70th anniversary of Dounreay


The UK Government's 1954
decision, made without any community consultation or public inquiry, to centre
the country's fast reactor R&D nuclear programme at Dounreay's disused
military airfield in Caithness, changed the fishing and farming county forever.



Around 1,100 workers, labelled
by the locals as 'Atomics', arrived from the South, and joined around 1,200
locals to operate three nuclear reactors. In one fell swoop, the continual
depopulation of Caithness was reversed and Thurso's population trebled from
3,200 to over 9,000 in only eight years.



In
1988, the Government decided that fast reactor technology was not required and
the last reactor was shut down in 1994. The world-leading pioneering work left
a legacy of radioactively-contaminated facilities and environment. The
challenging work programme of clean-up, decommissioning and demolition will extend
to the 2070s, and so Caithness and North Sutherland have time to prepare for
life after Dounreay.



Whatever
the future holds, enjoy the 70-year journey and discover how the incomers
became labelled as the 'Atomics'.