Nuclear power: an unexpected future on the north coast

Beaches, mountains and a nuclear reactor make a rather unexpected holiday combination. I remember travelling west towards Durness when Dounreay first appeared on the coastline, its familiar dome immediately bringing to mind the nuclear anxieties of old science-fiction films. Guests often share that surprise, because an enormous industrial complex hardly fits the Highlands they have come to see. Yet for people living here in the 1950s, the prospect of that dome could mean something rather more welcome: an opportunity to earn a living without leaving the North.

Britain was investigating how nuclear energy could meet its growing demand for electricity, and Dounreay was chosen in 1954 for a particularly adventurous experiment. Scientists wanted a reactor that could make better use of scarce uranium by producing new fuel as it worked. The site offered space and plentiful water, while distance from large populations provided a precaution if an accident released radioactive material. You can understand the reasoning, although being told there weren’t many people nearby would hardly reassure you if you were one of them. Thurso also had to be close enough to support the workforce, bringing the experiment and its uncertainties into the life of the town.

Meanwhile, inland near Altnabreac, engineers were pursuing another possibility: electricity generated from peat. Having watched the effort involved in cutting and drying a household supply, I still struggle with the thought of keeping a power station fed. Machinery and experimental turbine technology were intended to make it practical, and I understand why people wanted the employment it might bring. Looking back, I’m uneasy about the lasting damage that widespread peat extraction could have caused, but Dounreay’s long and costly decommissioning makes it impossible to treat the nuclear alternative as a venture without consequences of its own.

The peat scheme encountered difficulties and was abandoned, while Dounreay helped Thurso grow from roughly 3,000 people to around 9,000, with new homes, schools and a college accompanying its expansion. Those benefits belong in the story alongside the difficult legacy, without expecting everybody to agree about how one weighs against the other. In the audio blogcast, we explore how scientists hoped to produce new reactor fuel, why a wet summer frustrated the peat experiment, and what those uncertain ventures promised families in the North.

To learn more, listen to the blogcast or book one of our North Coast Explorer tours.