Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives are based at Wick Airport and are home to the archives of the UK civil nuclear industry which date back over seventy years and include plans, drawings, photographs, film, microfiche and documents. These have previously been held at various sites across the UK including Dounreay in Caithness, Harwell in Oxfordshire, Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia, and Sellafield in Cumbria. The relocation to Wick will take several years to complete.
Nucleus also houses the historical archives of the county of Caithness which date from 1469 to the present day and consist of documents in different formats including charters, minute books, correspondence, maps, photographs and plans. These historic collections are available to members of the public for family and local history research.
If you are interested in tracing your Caithness ancestors, discovering the history of your house, looking at old maps of the county, or just browsing through several hundred years of history, you will find a warm welcome at Nucleus.
Visiting Nucleus
Nucleus is open to the public Monday to Friday 0900-1700. Archives may be viewed in our public searchroom between 1000-1600.
If you wish to book a time please phone or email using the contact details below. Our staff will be more than happy to discuss your research area and the collections that will be of most use to you.
We recommend that you make an appointment and pre-order all documents before visiting. Please do this at least 2 days in advance to ensure that the documents you require are available. Drop-in customers will also be accommodated as far as possible on the day.
For more information on booking and what to expect when you visit, see our guidance on planning your visit.
Members of the public are also invited to visit our exhibition space located at the front of the building.
We close for some public holidays, and we recommend checking our Facebook page for advance notice of these.
There is free public parking at Nucleus. If the main car park is full please park in the car park across the road at the airport – the circular car park immediately on your left on turning into the airport is a designated overflow car park for Nucleus.
Once you have parked, the main entrance to Nucleus is located at the north end of the building (under the shelter where the points of the triangle meet). Please report to reception on arrival, where staff will welcome you into the building.
Contacting Nucleus
TEMPORARY PHONE NUMBER: 01925 803 090
Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives has a temporary phone number (01925 803 090) that will put you in contact with our reception team. This number can be used for all general building enquiries.
For archive and research enquiries please continue to contact the relevant archive team:
If you have a question about Caithness history or archives, please email [email protected] or message us via our Facebook page.
If you have a question about Nuclear records or the operation of Nucleus in general, please email [email protected]
The main telephone number for Nucleus is 01955 602 444. This number is currently unavailable and we are working to fix this as a matter of urgency. Please not that this number (01955 602 444) does ring on the caller’s end, but does not ring at Nucleus. Thank you for your understanding and patience in this matter.
