UK: National nuclear archive to be established

A National Nuclear Archive which could hold up to 30 million digital, paper and photographic records is to be established in the UK, it emerged today.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) said the facility would be created in Scotland to the tune of £20m (€26.8m).

An NDA spokesman said it would probably take five years before the “state of the art facility” can open its doors.

He said today: “It’s expected it will hold something between 20 million and 30 million records. It will bring together a lot of the records that exist across the country into one place.

“It’s all part of a plan to bring new facilities to the area.”

He confirmed that about 20 specialist jobs would be created as a result of the project.

The records will primarily focus on the history, development and decommissioning of Britain’s civil nuclear industry over the past 60 years.

It is understood many of the archives would be placed online to enable people to access them remotely, for research purposes or their own personal interest.

NDA chief executive Dr Ian Roxburgh said he believed the archive would benefit the local community.

“We are delighted to announce this investment for the UK’s National Nuclear Archive (NNA).

“This will be the first time that this amount of valuable information – useful to researchers, academics and businesses – will be brought together under one roof.

“We want to create a world-class, internationally renowned facility for records archiving and, ultimately, knowledge management.

“We are hoping to get local schools and colleges involved in using the NNA, even sponsoring educational projects.”