November 1955: Calder Hall - the word's first nuclear power station 

Readers of a certain vintage might recall the ‘Nuclear power? No thanks!’ smiling sun logo from the 1970s and ‘80s, but now, given the role of low carbon energy in net zero ambitions, shouldn’t this be amended to ‘Nuclear power? Yes please!’?

Compared to a coal-fired power station, a nuclear plant will use 1kg of uranium to generate the same amount of energy as 2.7 million kg of coal. There are drawbacks to nuclear such as upfront and lifetime costs, plus the question of how to best dispose of spent nuclear fuel. Despite this, a resurgent appetite for nuclear in Westminster via Great British Nuclear, an arms-length body responsible for driving delivery of new nuclear projects, makes it clear that atomic energy is back in the electricity generation game.

It all began at Calder Hall, Cumbria, when the plant’s 65MW dual purpose reactors came online in 1956, making it the world’s first full-scale commercial nuclear power station.