Windscale is supposed to be Britain’s big leap into the nuclear Age, bringing science fiction to life in 1950s Northern England. But in the race to catch up with America’s nuclear program, scientists are tinkering with forces they don’t fully understand. When the reactor catches fire, no-one knows how bad it could be, or how to put it out. As the reactor workers scramble to save lives, other eyes on Windscale are much more concerned with containing the political fallout and burying the truth.
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Further Reading
This script relied on two books by Lorna Arnold – Windscale 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident, and her autobiography, My Short Century. The BBC’s 2007 documentary, Windscale – Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Disaster, can be found on YouTube. In the same year, Richard Wakeford published The Windscale reactor accident—50 years on in the Journal of Radiological Protection. Bill Penney is remembered in obituaries by The Royal Society and New Scientist.