Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what progress has been made by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in establishing Nucleus, the national nuclear archive, at Wick; what proportion of the known documentation destined for Nucleus has been shipped to the site to date; what plans there are to digitise the archive contents to facilitate remote searching and access; and what use has been made of Nucleus by outside interested parties since it was opened.

The Nucleus nuclear archive building in Wick opened in February 2017. Since, an estimated 20% of the relevant records held at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) sites have been transferred there, while transfer of off-site records is approximately 40% complete. Dounreay’s records were the first to be transferred, including over 300,000 photographs and 200 tonnes of documents. Material from 16 other sites will be moved gradually over the next five years.

In the longer term, a searchable Archive Management System will provide online access to the material; security restrictions will apply to certain records. A digitisation programme to prepare a specification and scope of work began last year.

The facility has been primarily used by the local community and international nuclear community. It has hosted events for various international organisations, such as the Nuclear Energy Agency and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Most local visitors access the Caithness Archives, which is located at Wick alongside the nuclear collection.