Sellafield, formerly known as Windscale, is a large multi-function nuclear site close to Seascale on the coast of Cumbria, England. As of August 2022, primary activities are nuclear waste processing and storage and nuclear decommissioning. Former activities included nuclear power generation from 1956 to 2003, and nuclear fuel reprocessing from 1952 to 2022.
2005 view of the site
The site in 1956. In foreground Calder Hall cooling towers and two Magnox reactors. Background L to R: First Generation reprocessing plant, Windscale pile chimneys.
Queen Elizabeth II officially opening Calder Hall nuclear power station on 17 October 1956
Chart of the estimated growing decommission cost for Sellafield versus other sites 2005-2120 (undiscounted), revisions until 2019.
Seascale is a village and civil parish on the Irish Sea coast of Cumbria, England, historically within Cumberland. The parish had a population of 1,747 in 2001, barely increasing by 0.4% in 2011.
Seascale
The sea front at Seascale