The Princess Royal unveiled a stone plaque to mark the official opening of Nucleus

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal this week unveiled a commemorative plaque marking the official opening of Nucleus (The Nuclear and Caithness Archives).

The Princess Royal toured the NDA’s £21 million facility in Wick accompanied by Chief Executive Officer David Peattie, who said:

We are extremely honoured to have received a visit from The Princess Royal to open Nucleus. It has been fantastic to see this important project come to fruition as a resource to preserve records from the country’s nuclear industry, as well as historical material from the Caithness region.

Her Royal Highness was greeted on arrival by Her Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Caithness, Viscount Thurso. Also among the invited guests were the Lord Lieutenant’s wife Lady Thurso, former Lord Lieutenant Miss Anne Dunnett, MP Jamie Stone, MSP Gail Ross, representatives from Dounreay Stakeholder Group and local councillors.

During the tour, The Princess Royal met key staff from the archive’s operations team, who described how the documents were prepared, indexed, stored in a series of secure pods, with humidity and temperature kept stable to minimise the potential for deterioration. Mr Peattie addressed assembled guests and staff before inviting Her Royal Highness to unveil the plaque.

Nucleus has a dual role: as well as records from the country’s nuclear sites, Nucleus houses a collection of local Caithness records that have outgrown their existing home.