Archived press release

Calder Hall Reactor Shuts: Last Post Sounds for Nuclear Power

28 March 2003

The world's first electricity generating nuclear reactor - Calder Hall in West Cumbria - closes on Monday March 31^st. Anti-nuclear campaigners from around the country will be present to witness the event.

There are 12 sites with active nuclear power stations in the UK. Each has a community based campaign opposing the idea of new reactors on those sites. Last month's Energy White Paper gave them hope that their campaigns will be successful. The closure of Calder Hall is a milestone on that path.

Calder Hall was opened by the Queen in October 1956. Its primary function was to manufacture plutonium for nuclear weapons but it was also the first nuclear reactor anywhere in the world to generate commercial electricity. Since then nuclear power has had a rocky ride. In 1973, Friends of the Earth was the first national environmental organisation to expose the unacceptable economic and environmental costs of the nuclear industry. In the 1980s, Friends of the Earth was at the forefront of campaigns to stop Margaret Thatcher building ten new nuclear reactors. In the 1990s, Friends of the Earth evidence helped discredit plans for a nuclear waste dump at Sellafield. This year, the Government's Energy White Paper effectively shelved new nuclear power in favour of renewables and energy efficiency.

The story of Calder Hall, and the Sellafield complex it sits within, can be traced through the life of Friends of the Earth campaigner Jill Perry. Only 4 months old when it first opened, Jill's farming father was one of those who had to throw away milk following the disastrous fire at Sellafield, (then Windscale) in 1957. She has spent the last 15 years campaigning for the closure of Sellafield and for the phasing out of nuclear power. Jill will be present at the event.

On the closing of Calder Hall, Jill Perry said:

"Calder Hall marked the beginning of the world's environmentally and economically disastrous experiment with nuclear power. Its closure marks the beginning of the end. The nuclear industry must now concentrate all its efforts on cleaning up the mess it has created over the last 47 years.

It is time that West Cumbria and the rest of the world moved on and embraced sustainable energy technologies as the way forward for the 21^st century."

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust