The Windscale Fire
Nuclear disasters are thankfully few and far between, even more so in the UK. In the 1950s, however, an incident in Cumbria highlighted the risks that come with the industry
Nuclear power has taken the world by storm for decades, and its creation has helped advance society. Yet, like with various other types of fuel, nuclear energy comes with its risks. The most significant nuclear disaster was at the Ukrainian power plant at Chernobyl, where one of the reactors exploded and spread radiation for hundreds of miles across Europe.
Taking place almost 40 years ago, the impact of the disaster is still being felt in places, and there are areas around Chernobyl that will remain uninhabitable for many more years to come. Years before the events in the Soviet Union, the UK experienced a nuclear disaster that could have led to catastrophic consequences for the country and Europe.
In the 1950s, the UK contracted an atomic bomb programme. Just six years after atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, two graphite-moderated reactors were constructed in the Cumbrian town of Seascale. On 10 October 1957, a fire in one of these reactors very nearly changed the course of history.
The fire raged in the reactor for three days, and radiation was released into the skies above the continent. This released a radioactive isotope iodine-131, which has been known to cause thyroid cancer. In the years that followed, this would prove to be horrifyingly true.
The severity of the fire and the radioactive leak was played down initially, with not one person evacuated from the surrounding area. The most significant move authorities made was to dispose of any milk from a 190-mile radius of the site over radiation fears.
The historical context of this event is key. The 1950s signalled the opening of the Cold War, and around the world, nations were racing to create more nuclear weapons than their adversaries. The threat of nuclear war was looming, and the USSR and the USA faced off against each other. The UK was one of several other nations aiming to keep up with these two nations, and projects such as the facility at Windscale were an example of this.
It was because of this blossoming nuclear relations that Prime Minister Harold Macmillan made sure events in Cumbria were played down. To avoid damaging this relationship with the USA, the UK government made sure reports of the fire underwent heavy censorship. It wasn’t until 1988 that full reports were published.
In 1957, the same year as the Windscale Fire, the UK carried out Hydrogen Bomb tests. The fragile peace of the decade was constantly threatened by bomb tests and agreements made by nations. As tensions rose across the world, things were starting to go awry in Cumbria. The ninth Wigner Release, the displacement of atoms caused by neutron radiation, in Pile 1 was supposed to cause a cycle that would see the temperature of the entire core gradually rise on an even basis.
Instead, one section’s temperature continued to rise, and three days after the test started on October 7, a cartridge burst into flames, and attempts to cool the area down didn’t work- instead, the increased speed of the fans simply fanned the flames more.
When smoke was seen coming from the chimney, examination discovered the fire had been burning for 48 hours. Efforts to extinguish the fire took place day and night, and water was used on the flaming area when roughly 11 tonnes of uranium were on fire.
The fire was eventually put out, but not before radiation had been pumped into the atmosphere. Yet the damage to people through this would only come to light years later, when up to 100 cancer deaths were traced back to the fire.
The incident was not fully understood until late in the 20th century, but it was a reminder to people in the UK of the dangers of nuclear power. For all of the success of the still relatively new form of energy, the Cumbrian fire showed what could go wrong.
The UK government could and should have been more open about what happened at Windscale. Thirty years later, when Reactor 4 at Chernobyl exploded, there would have been more than a few people in northern England whose memory flashed back to the 1950s.
I must admit, I’ve decided to write about the Windscale Fire due to a new game that has been released, which takes inspiration from the fire. ‘AtomFall’ depicts the stunning Cumbrian countryside, and takes players through a dramatic and unusual journey with plenty of bumps in the road.
