Wick
 

Flying nuclear material from Scotland to US 'an option' - BBC News

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) has said radioactive material could potentially be flown to and from Scotland and the US.
Last month, the UK and US governments agreed that material could be exchanged.

The NDA is funding improvement work to enhance the runway at Wick John O'Groats Airport.

The airport is about 30 miles (48km) from the Dounreay nuclear site.
Under the UK-US deal, it has been proposed that highly enriched uranium (HEU) stored at Dounreay be sent to the US.

The NDA said flying the material was among options being considered, but also said no decisions have been taken.

A spokeswoman for the NDA said: "The protection of the public and personnel is of paramount importance at all times. For those reason we are unable to disclose information about the transport arrangement that's could jeopardise the security of this material. It has been proposed that a quantity of HEU may be exchanged with the US in return for material to be used in the production of medical isotopes for Europe. The upgrades to the airport in Wick will be done to ensure that this is one possible option to allow the transport to take place."

A spokesman for Wick John O'Groats Airport, which is operated by Highlands and Islands Airport Limited, said: "Work will get under way later this month on a project to refurbish the runway at Wick John O'Groats Airport in order to enhance its operational capability and, in particular, its ability to accommodate larger aircraft. "This work will be carried out on behalf of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The majority of work will be carried out overnight and the project is expected to be completed in August."

Radioactive material from the civil nuclear industry has been transported by plane in the past, the NDA said.

A spokesman for the authority added that funding improvements to the airport near Wick secured "the option of moving material by air on a range of aircraft".

The Dounreay nuclear power complex is being decommissioned and the site cleaned up. Most of the radioactive materials, such as fuel, held there is being moved to other locations, including Sellafield in Cumbria where it will be reprocessed or stored.

Hope they don't straighten 26 - I used to love landing on a "banana" shaped runway :ok:

If these flights take place at least you'll be able to see Wick in the dark in the years ahead... :p

Dounreay had its own 6,000ft runway that still looks intact despite being abandoned for years.

According to this interesting article, the Dounreay runway is now used as a car park

Dounreay

Dounreays runway is now a carpark complete with lampposts I think surface is now pretty broken up. Don't expect HIAL to make full use of Runway upgrade all they are interested in is INVERNESS

Maybe a candidate for some subsidised air service?

Request stop on the way to Orkney or Shetland???

Wick has been used for spent nuclear fuel flights for years. BAe146s to Carlisle, C-130s to Switzerland and elsewhere. Before that it was DanAir HS748s into half of the old WW2 runway (3000ft-ish) at Dounreay, using nothing more than an NDB approach with no DME. I think they also used Bandeirantes.

Seems to me the biggest concern about more nuclear flights at Wick ought to be the complete absence of controlled airspace and low level ATC radar cover there.

First shipment has left... it was odd being in Wick last week and seeing the lights of the runway in the evening - made the airport look huge!

Dounreay cargo leaves Wick for USA | John O'Groat Journal | News

So what did the £8 million upgrade actually pay for?

With a 1400m landing distance available at Wick, intrigued to know what transatlantic-capable aircraft they intend to use to fly waste to the US?

£8m would pay for some useful extension of the runway......

The link above shows it was a C17!

They used to fly nuclear material from EGCC to Dounrey and vice-versa in the 1980s, I believe? Air Kilroe, in a King Air, to EGPY.

Good question. There's been no change in runway length, declared distances, quoted bearing strengths of runway, apron or taxiways for some years, and the PCNs are all well below the ACN of a C-17.

RFF Category also unchanged at 4 with 5 or 6 available by arrangement. But I understand a C17 is Cat 8. :uhoh:

The C-17 didn't depart directly for its destination, it transited to another secure local airfield with a runway of about 2,700 metres to take-on fuel for the journey...

Routed via Lossiemouth on both inbound and outbound legs.

But don't tell anyone. :=

You mean it would light The Wick............

If HIAL were involved a new coffee machine for the manager would be about it

Displaced Threshold at each end was completely dug out new concrete base poured and the whole length was resurfaced. Think there is still some displacement at each end but its not as large a displacement as it was ! If only they could make use of the upgrade and generate some new business now but knowing HIAL all they are interested in is INVERNESS:{

Runway declared lengths, thresholds and bearing strengths are still exactly the same as they have been for years. Maybe HIAL hasn't got round to telling the AIP yet?

Look - someone needs £ 8 mm quid OK? Goes a long way in Thurso.............

Yes, usually a long way down a hole.......:uhoh:

The lights are definitely new. Was lit up like a, er, runway earlier. I amuse myself.

Must be one of those new pay-as -use elctricity meters they've installed - insert £ 100 k here......................

HIAL has a crystal ball!

https://c1.staticflickr.com/5/4444/3...8bf299c9_b.jpg

Eastern have now pulled out of Wick. Loganair left a few months ago
Anyone have thoughts on the future of Wick airport ? Will there be a PSO to keep a passenger service ?

I visited Wick last year and thought it was a great little airport with a modern terminal. Next to no one lives in the catchment area though so even in the good times the passenger traffic was only ever light.

Very first time I flew. Wick to Kirkwall in a DC3, 1952 or 3, so I was 7/8. Part of a journey from Inverness to Whalsay in Shetland by car, plane and boats. Since it was midsummer, daylight the whole way from 4am to after 11.
The population of Caithness is still about 40k, but of course its heyday was when Dounreay was active.

davidjohnson6

Local politicians and business groups have been calling for routes to Aberdeen and Edinburgh to be covered by PSOs by the Scottish Government, but I've not seen anything to indicate the SG's view on these requests.

The FBO, Far North Aviation, has a steady stream of ferry flights stopping for fuel, though I don't know if that traffic alone would be sufficient to maintain a slimmed-down operation.

As mentioned above, the airport has also, as recently as 2018, been visited by USAF C17s removing nuclear waste from Dounreay. Whether there are to be any more of those flights I don't know, but if there are then that might be a reason for at least keeping the airfield in a state that could see it be made available for such flights.

(As an aside, HIAL commissioned AECOM to assess the runways for C17 use. However, anything appearing to relate to details of the C17 operations has been redacted. I've too few posts to allow me to post a link, but Googling 'wick, C17, theferret.scot' should find it.)

I think these C17 flights are now finished. Regarding the PSO appeal to scottish government. I would say given the rural area and poor road and rail network it should be in with a good chance. As I've said on here before if Dundee can get it, a city with good road and rail links to aberdeen, edinburgh and glasgow then I can't see how Wick can't. I think a case was put forward to the Government this week so time will tell.Also the loss of many jobs in the area if the airport was to close would be devistaing. Only a helicopter based at the airport now which serves the Beatrice off shore wind farm.

Isn't the whole point of PSOs offering better access for travel related to either business or public services? While Dundee has better access to EDI, it also has much more to offer in that regard. I don't really see why WIC would justify that, but maybe some local folks here have better insight. What was the typical clientele using the WIC flights more recently (which had seen passenger numbers drop by third over just 3 or 4 years)? I used (rather: tried to use) it once but it was leisure travel obviously not justifying taxpayer money spent on it. I took the train from Inverness and planned to return to EDI by plane, connecting to LON from there. Alas, fog and I ended on a coach that drove me to INV from where I got on a plane. Not terribly convenient, but certainly the alternative the taxman has in mind when consinderig spending money on a PSO, given the expansion of services from INV over the past few years (that was - before BE's collapse).

Just went on to their website to see that Wick has been removed from the drop down menu. Was hoping it was temporary.

Some PSO routes are necessary for NHS patients, but the NHS serves Wick from Inverness.

SealinkBF

I'm afraid not Sealink Check in staff paid off last friday. I think the future looks pretty bleak for the airport and the county not to mention all the staff that work there Fire Brigade, Security Staff, ATC etc.
Changed days from 2 years ago when eastern had a early morning and late evening return flights

Multi-million-pound plan to bring new routes to Wick Airport
 

Multi-million-pound plan to bring new routes to Wick Airport | Press and Journal Wick Airport

Is that enough cash to open a PSO to either EDI and/or GLA with a bit spare for contingencies ?

It should be.. its in line with other PSO funded routes. There's a handy table available here that shows them all: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites...tory_table.pdf

But to summarise:
Kirkwall - Westray/Papa Westray/Sanday etc - £178,000-£195,000
Newquay - Heathrow = £700,000
Glagow - Barra/Campbeltown/Tiree - £1,300,000 - £1,800,000
Cardiff - RAF Valley - £2,000,000

It would be important to discover where people need to fly to, which may not be where they used to in the past. After all my very first flight was in 1951 from Wick to Kirkwall in a DC3!

Still can’t ignore the fact that there is almost no demand for air travel from Wick so I wonder what the subsidies will be per passenger? Great little airport with an almost empty terminal when I watched an arrival and departure 3 years ago.

I think the demand is travel to Wick - off shore workers positioning in for transfer to sites in the North Sea.