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July 2002

A new exhibit at the Dounreay Visitor Centre reveals how armour-plated steel from a World War Two battleship has played an important role in looking after the health of thousands of workers at the site.

Several tons of steel salvaged from the hull of HMS Howe after the war has been used to shield sensitive radiation monitoring equipment from natural radioactivity during regular health checks on staff who work with nuclear materials.

Changes to working patterns at the site mean that some of the equipment is no longer required, and part of the steel used in the whole-body scans has been preserved in the visitor centre for heritage.

Staff who work with nuclear materials are known as a classified radiation workers and they are subject to regular health checks to measure any absorption of radioactivity. But because there are other natural sources of radioactivity, it is important to filter out as much of this radioactivity as possible when making measurements to obtain a true measure of any absorption.

This problem was solved in the early 1960s by designing a whole-body monitoring system that used thick armour-plated steel from the hull of HMS Howe.  The six-inch thick steel blocked out 98 per cent of natural radiation, and because the steel was made before 1945 - and therefore had not been exposed to any radioactive fall-out from nuclear weapons during its manufacture - it is free from radioactive impurities associated with steel made after 1945.

Two cells made from steel walls, floors and ceilings continue to provide shielding for workers today who undergo health checks.  But internal refurbishment of the cells means that the steel stand used to support the sensitive whole-body scanner is no longer required and, having played a part in thousands of health checks over the last 40 years, has now gone on display at the exhibition.

Mr Colin Gregory, head of Dounreay’s nuclear technology group, said: “The story of the whole-body monitoring system at Dounreay underlines the importance UKAEA attaches health checks of its workers and the efforts it made to ensure their accuracy.”

About H M S Howe
HMS Howe was launched in April 1940 and completed in 1942, joining the Home Fleet at Scapa Flow and taking part in North Russian convoy protection duties until May 1943.  HMS Howe and Anson, were two of the last two units of this class of five battleships built for the Royal Navy in the first half of the Second World War.  

In  June 1944 Howe  sailed from Scapa Flow to join the Eastern Fleet followed by operations around Sumatra and the East Indies. In September 1943, with King George V, she escorted the surrendered Italian Fleet from Malta into Alexandria harbour.  Service in the Mediterranean and the East Indies followed, most notably taking part in Operation Husky – the invasion of Sicily – and, later, the invasion of Italy.

From December 1944 until August 1945 she operated as a unit of the British Pacific Fleet and, following a refit at Durban, returned to the East Indies Fleet until December 1945. 

Between 1950 and 1958 she was laid-up at Devonport before being towed to Inverkeithing to be broken up.  A major feature of this class of battle ship in comparison with their foreign contemporaries was in their, heavy, simple and effective armour protection. 

Dounreay Visitor Centre
The Dounreay Visitor Centre is open seven days a week from 10.00-4.00pm until 1 November 2002. Admission is free.

Other Caithness Visitor Centres And Galleries