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’.