Windscale, 1957: Anatomy of a Nuclear Accident

‘…excellent account of the fire …a book filled with fascinating facts. Ms Arnold asks whether any of this matters any more. It does, and her excellent book shows why’ - Tom Wilkie, Independent In 1957 one of the two reactors built at Windscale in Cumbria, England, to produce plutonium for bombs was destroyed by fire, in the world’s first major nuclear accident. “Nearly forty years on, the story of the world’s first nuclear accident still enthrals. A second edition of Lorna Arnold’s straight ahead narrative of the fire in a plutonium-producing reactor on the coast of Cumberland pins you to your seat from the start.‘ - New Scientist This book - using official papers, scientific reports and much firsthand evidence - tells of the men who designed, built and operated the reactors. It describes the fire and what followed, and considers its causes, effects and political importance. It throws a revealing new light on the event and on questions of secrecy and responsibility.