Tell Me About The History Of Sellafield?

It's situated on a relatively uninhabitated stretch of Cumbrian coastline, and used to be called Windscale.

The site was developed specifically in the late 1940s to produce enriched uranium suitable for use in nuclear weapons. Uranium from Sellafield was used in Britain's first atom bomb -- manufacturered in Oxford UK and detonated off of Australia in 1952.

In October 1957 the site also saw the world's first (publicised) nuclear power plant accident. A reactor core, being heated up to enable the release of energy from the core, appeared to be too cool. Engineers boosted the heating further, not realising that the measurements were unreliable and in fact the reactor was already getting too hot.

A fire started, and the reactor's ventilation system promptly started blowing radiation into the outside atmosphere via the cooling towers. Attempts to put the fire out with carbon dioxide failed. With temperatures rising 20 degrees a minute, engineers gambled that flooding the reactor with cold water would put the fire out, although this also brought the risk of an explosion (by hydrogen gas).

Luckily the fire did go out.

Milk produced in a 200 mile radius was banned for consumption for a period afterwards.

Today the site holds a cheery seaside visitor centre and modern nuclear reactors. There are few reminders of the near catastrophe 50 years ago.

Add Comment

Report