Shut down after the Windscale fire on 10 October 1957
The Windscale Piles were two air-cooled graphite-moderated nuclear reactors on the Windscale nuclear site in Cumberland (now known as Sellafield site, Cumbria) on the north-west coast of England. The two reactors, referred to at the time as "piles", were built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project and produced weapons-grade plutonium for use in nuclear weapons.
Windscale Pile No. 1 became operational in October 1950 followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951.[1] They were intended to last five years, but operated for seven until shut down following the Windscale fire on 10 October 1957. Nuclear decommissioning operations commenced in the 1980s and are estimated to last beyond 2040. Visible changes have been seen as the chimneys were slowly dismantled from top-down; Pile 2's chimney being reduced to the height of adjacent buildings in the early 2000s. However, the demolition of pile 1 chimney has taken much longer as it was significantly contaminated after the 1957 fire. The reactor cores still remain to be dismantled.
^Force V: The history of Britain's airborne deterrent, by Andrew Brookes. Jane's Publishing Co Ltd; First Edition 1 Jan. 1982, ISBN 0710602383, p.9.
The WindscalePiles were two air-cooled graphite-moderated nuclear reactors on the Windscale nuclear site in Cumberland (now known as Sellafield site,...
reactors, referred to at the time as "piles," had been built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October...
required the construction of the WindscalePiles and the First Generation Reprocessing Plant, and it was renamed "Windscale Works". Subsequent key developments...
commune in Centre-West in France WindscalePiles, a former pair of nuclear reactors in Cumberland, England Grandes-Piles, Quebec, municipality in Mékinac...
Windscale pile". World Nuclear News. 21 August 2008. "Windscale Pile problems". 27 June 2000. Leatherdale, Duncan (4 November 2014). "WindscalePiles:...
the design and building of Britain's nuclear reactors such as the WindscalePiles and Calder Hall nuclear power station. To support this an extensive...
amounts of Wigner energy. This problem led to the infamous Windscale fire at the WindscalePiles, a nuclear reactor complex in the United Kingdom, in 1957...
after the exposure event. From 1955 to 1957 the WindscalePiles had been releasing polonium-210. The Windscale fire brought the need for testing of the land...
construction of the Springfields Chemical and Fuel Element Plants, the WindscalePiles, Windscale plutonium extraction plant, Capenhurst gaseous diffusion plant...
civil nuclear programme, opening a nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England, in 1956. The British installed base of nuclear reactors used...
processing plant at Windscale, and a gaseous diffusion uranium enrichment facility at Capenhurst, near Chester. The two Windscale reactors became operational...
original Hurricane device was produced in the nuclear reactor at Windscale, but the WindscalePiles did not have the capacity to provide sufficient material for...
about this condition.: 15–29 The Windscale fire resulted when uranium metal fuel ignited inside plutonium production piles; surrounding dairy farms were...
on commissioning Britain's first production nuclear reactors, the WindscalePiles, designed to produce plutonium for military purposes. When the emphasis...
former site of the Windscale nuclear reactor and Calder Hall. The British government began developing the site in 1947 as the WindscalePiles plutonium production...
the view to the northwest was dominated by the twin chimneys of the WindscalePiles nuclear reactors. However, these landmarks were dismantled in the early...
"Evaluation of graphite safety issues for the British production piles at Windscale]". AEA Technology. IAEA. IAEA-TECDOC—1043. Archived from the original...
(ARS) as a direct result of the disaster. October 8, 1957 – Windscale fire ignites plutonium piles and contaminates surrounding dairy farms, 100 to 240 cancer...
Soviet maps between 1958 and 1991. Windscale fire, United Kingdom, October 8, 1957. Fire ignites plutonium piles and contaminates surrounding dairy farms...
Hinton decided to build the plant at Windscale; Sir John Hill worked on a computer; Tom Tuohy managed the piles; David Deverell was a senior chemical...
power. The world's first commercial nuclear power station, Calder Hall at Windscale, England was connected to the national power grid on 27 August 1956. In...
Description Victims Cost (in millions 2006 US$) INES rating Spring, 1957 Windscale (now Sellafield), UK Radioactivity release from a military reactor contaminated...
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