Perhaps not so peaceful

According to the IMechE’s assistant archivist, Calder Hall at Sellafield was the world’s first civil nuclear power station

“Pioneer of power for peaceful purposes.” Really? According to the IMechE’s assistant archivist, Calder Hall at Sellafield was the world’s first civil nuclear power station (Archive, PE December). By contrast, Friends of the Earth have argued for decades that Calder Hall was really intended to give Britain the bomb, and that electricity production was a secondary purpose. 

I wonder what is the truth? Turning to Wikipedia, we make this surprising discovery: “The first Magnox reactors at Calder Hall were designed principally to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons.” Wikipedia cites what looks like a reliable source: 10 Years of Nuclear Power by UKAEA (1966).

Arthur Champion, Cheltenham