Today we’re looking back at the day Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visited the Sellafield A site in 1985.
She opened a new £400 million Sipex plant and said she would be happy to live near Sellafield. The visit was the last stop in a hectic round the nuclear industry’s biggest sites. She landed by helicopter before opening the huge Sipex plant, designed to cut out radioactive sea discharges. And she told 100 invited guests: “The real purpose of my visit today is to demonstrate faith in, and enthusiasm for, Britain’s nuclear power and fuel industry.”
She received a bouquet from second year electrician Lesley Bode, 17, from Workington.
Demonstrators hoping to lobby the Prime Minister were disappointed that the tight schedule kept her away from them.