Milestones
Calder Hall Opens
1956
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Opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 17 October 1956, Calder Hall in west Cumbria was the world's first commercial-scale nuclear power station, the first of the British 50 MWe Magnox gas-cooled reactors, and it ran for 47 years until 2003. The earlier first belongs to Obninsk in the Soviet Union, whose small reactor fed a grid from June 1954; Calder Hall's claim is industrial scale. The early Magnox stations were dual-purpose, making military plutonium alongside power until that role moved to other Windscale facilities from 1964.
Facts
Milestone Year Milestone Date LocationSellafield, Cumbria, England 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Sources
1. World Nuclear Association Information Library
World Nuclear AssociationInformation Library, Outline History of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear energy goes commercialQuote, Information Library, Outline History of Nuclear Energy, Nuclear energy goes commercial
The first of these 50 MWe Magnox types, Calder Hall 1, started up in 1956 and ran until 2003.
1. World Nuclear Association Information Library
World Nuclear AssociationAssociated With: First Nuclear Power to a Grid, Information Library, Outline History of Nuclear EnergyQuote, Associated With: First Nuclear Power to a Grid, Information Library, Outline History of Nuclear Energy
in June 1954 the world's first nuclear powered electricity generator began operation at the FEI in Obninsk.
2. World Nuclear News
World Nuclear AssociationUK marks 60th anniversary of Calder HallQuote, UK marks 60th anniversary of Calder Hall
the opening of the world's first commercial nuclear power plant at Calder Hall in west Cumbria in England
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