Looking back at memories of Sellafield throughout the years

The Sellafield site was originally developed as a Royal Ordnance Factory to produce TNT during World War II.

By 1947, it was identified by the British Government as a viable site to house a nuclear facility due to its remote location and access to water from nearby River Calder.

The first nuclear reactor in the UK, Calder Hall, was opened at Sellafield in 1956, primarily with a military focus to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons, but also to generate electricity.

In the 1960/1970's, Sellafield underwent significant expansion with the addition of more advanced reactors and reprocessing plants, including the Windscale Advanced Gas-cooled Reactor and the Magnox reprocessing plant.

In the mid-1980s, the construction of the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) began.

Some photos show Margaret Thatcher on a tour of the site. The former PM opened a new £400 million SIXEP plant and said she would be happy to live near Sellafield to those at the opening.

The visit from Number 10 was the last stop in a hectic tour around the nuclear industry’s biggest sites across the UK. She landed by helicopter at Sellafield before opening the huge SIXEP plant, which was designed to cut out radioactive sea discharges.

Margaret Thatcher told the 100 invited guests that day: “The real purpose of my visit today is to demonstrate faith in, and enthusiasm for, Britain’s nuclear power and fuel industry.”

During her visit, she received a bouquet from second year electrician Lesley Bode, 17, from Workington.

However, the controversial figure she was, partiucularly in the both, many demonstrators were waiting in the hopes to lobby the Prime Minister. However, there will have been much disappointment that the tight schedule kept her away from them.