Catalogue description United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and predecessors: Northern Groups: Correspondence and Papers

This series contains files and reports concerning all aspects of atomic energy research carried out by Northern Groups including the establishment of Production Division of the Department of Atomic Energy, personnel matters, general and scientific and technical administration, housing, site accommodation, waste disposal, staff relations, training, recruitment, buildings and works and health and safety.

The Production Division was a defence project whose purpose was to produce fissile material, primarily for weapons, and involved building three major plants as well as plutonium producing reactors. This in turn required a headquarters organisation to undertake design and supply, and provide overall control of the project. With the relatively short time-scale imposed for the production of the first quantity of material, it would have been a difficult task at any time; the national shortages of men and materials during the post-war years added greatly to the difficulties. The files dealing with staff show how the Control of Engagements Order affected recruitment, while those dealing with plant and materials indicate the problems encountered in obtaining supplies of steel and other essentials.

Other files deal with the search for suitable sites, the careful investigations that were made before a site was selected, and the often prolonged negotiations between selection and acquisition. For building the plants, Ministry of Works acted as construction agents and this also involved a mass of official correspondence.

From 1973 United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority