Windscale, 1957

In November 1957 17 miners were killed and 11 injured in a mining disaster at Kames Colliery, in Ayrshire. A month earlier, on the Cumbrian coast, there had been a fire in a nuclear reactor. Fortunately there were no deaths and no known injuries. Most people soon forgot the Kames tragedy but the Windscale accident captured the headlines, preoccupied ministers and engaged senior officials, scientists and engineers for months. It is still a contemporary issue and is vividly remembered. A folklore has grown up around it, with tales of clouds of black smoke, the slaughter of radioactive cattle and how the famous filters saved the day. In the United States there was even a rumour that the accident had made the area uninhabitable for 200 years. Why this contradiction? Atomic energy had a special status, it was new, unfamiliar and mysterious. It was also a matter of high policy, involving international relations, the defence of the realm, and national prestige. Mining accidents were shocking but not incomprehensible. Their consequences, though grievous for families, were local. The 1957 Windscale fire, however, was at the very heart of Britain's defence programme.
The aim of this book is to set the 1957 Windscale accident in its historical context in the immediate post-war period and the early days of the Cold War; to describe the event and its consequences; and to evaluate it from the vantage point of 1990. Official papers in several government offices as well as in the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) archives, with the exception of one or two items, were released in the Public Record Office in January 1988 and 1989, some of the documents were released in advance of the 30 year rule. Interviews, conversations and correspondence are used to supplement contemporary documents and to help elucidate technical problems. This book tells the story of the men who designed, built and operated these reactors and overcame tremendous difficulties to meet paramount defence requirements. It describes the fire, the courageous fight against it, the health measures taken, and the aftermath - cleaning up operations, crash research programmes, inquiries and White Papers.
 
In November 1957 17 miners were killed and 11 injured in a mining disaster at Kames Colliery, in Ayrshire. A month earlier, on the Cumbrian coast, there had been a fire in a nuclear reactor. Fortunately there were no deaths and no known injuries. Most people soon forgot the Kames tragedy but the Windscale accident captured the headlines, preoccupied ministers and engaged senior officials, scientists and engineers for months. It is still a contemporary issue and is vividly remembered. A folklore has grown up around it, with tales of clouds of black smoke, the slaughter of radioactive cattle and how the famous filters saved the day. In the United States there was even a rumour that the accident had made the area uninhabitable for 200 years. Why this contradiction? Atomic energy had a special status, it was new, unfamiliar and mysterious. It was also a matter of high policy, involving international relations, the defence of the realm, and national prestige. Mining accidents were shocking but not incomprehensible. Their consequences, though grievous for families, were local. The 1957 Windscale fire, however, was at the very heart of Britain's defence programme.
The aim of this book is to set the 1957 Windscale accident in its historical context in the immediate post-war period and the early days of the Cold War; to describe the event and its consequences; and to evaluate it from the vantage point of 1990. Official papers in several government offices as well as in the Atomic Energy Authority (AEA) archives, with the exception of one or two items, were released in the Public Record Office in January 1988 and 1989, some of the documents were released in advance of the 30 year rule. Interviews, conversations and correspondence are used to supplement contemporary documents and to help elucidate technical problems. This book tells the story of the men who designed, built and operated these reactors and overcame tremendous difficulties to meet paramount defence requirements. It describes the fire, the courageous fight against it, the health measures taken, and the aftermath - cleaning up operations, crash research programmes, inquiries and White Papers.