Some thoughts on Calder Hall, on its birthday

Our partners 18th October 2016

17 October 2016 marks 60 years since the opening of the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant. Opened by the Queen in 1956, Calder Hall nuclear power plant in northwest England became the first nuclear power plant to supply commercial amounts of electricity to a public grid.

Celebrating 60 years civil electricity generation is an opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and also to celebrate the UK’s promising nuclear future.

Calder Hall’s operation and connection to the electrical grid was, at the time, an experiment in nuclear energy’s capability for delivering electrical power quickly, cheaply and safely. That experiment has led us to this dawn of new nuclear build in the UK, an undeniable success story. It is the peaceful harnessing of ‘atomic’ or nuclear energy, that began 60 years ago, which will significantly contribute to deterring global warming through reduction of carbon emissions, as it continues to help remedy the societal energy trilemma – sustainability, affordability and security.

We, as a society, are tasked with optimising these benefits of nuclear energy, which includes developing and delivering future innovations and capabilities, as well as mitigating the liabilities of nuclear waste and historic legacies.

Professor Melissa Denecke
Scientific Director, Dalton Nuclear Institute