Catalogue description Records of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority: Northern Groups (Production Division)

In February 1946, Production Division, headed by Christopher Hinton, set up its headquarters in accommodation used during the 1939-1945 war as a Ministry of Supply filling factory at Risley, near Warrington. At these headquarters design of the necessary plants was to be done.

Within a month of the setting up of divisional headquarters, sites were acquired at Springfields, near Preston, and at Windscale on the Cumberland coast, for the construction of various process plants. Windscale was chosen as the site where the first atomic pile in the North of England was to be built.

In 1946, the emphasis was on getting the plants designed, built and into production as soon as possible, and the drawings and sketches created reflect this purpose.

With the establishment of the Atomic Energy Authority in 1954, factories involved in the production of fissile material and atomic energy became responsible to the Industrial Group of the UK Atomic Energy Authority, whose headquarters remained at Risley.

The factory at Springfields produced uranium metal fuel rods, a gaseous diffusion plant at Capenhurst manufactured pure uranium, and metallic plutonium was produced at Windscale where atomic piles had been built. The Industrial Group, the forerunner of the Production and Reactor Groups, was also responsible for the laboratory at Culcheth.

In February 1955, the government announced a ten-year plan for the construction of twelve civil nuclear power stations. Commercial production of electricity from nuclear energy was to be undertaken by the electricity authorities. In October 1956, the first full scale nuclear power station was opened at Calder Hall, near Windscale, and in the following year, the planning of the Advanced Gas-Cooled Reactor project began.

After 1956, the Risley headquarters also became the Safety Branch of the Health Advisory Committee concerned with safety issues in the design and siting of reactors and research plants.

In October 1957, a fire in Number 1 pile at Windscale led to a leak of radioactivity to the surrounding area. The committee of enquiry, chaired by Sir William Penney, reported in November. Three further enquiries, all chaired by Sir Alexander Fleck, looked into the organisation of the authority, issues of health and safety, and the technical aspects of the accident. As a result of the recommendations of these reports, the two Windscale piles were closed and measures aimed at strengthening the management structure of the Industrial Group were made.

In 1959, the Industrial Group was divided into a Development and Engineering Group, and a Production Group. The two 'Northern Groups' were further divided and a new Reactor Group formed, responsible for designing and developing nuclear reactors and having responsibility for the development and introduction of nuclear power reactor systems.

Under the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971, the authority's fuel and radioisotope business were transferred to two publicly-owned companies. British Nuclear Fuels Ltd (BNFL), took over responsibility for the establishments at Capenhurst, Chapelcross, Windscale and Springfields, and the Radiochemical Centre at Amersham became The Radiochemical Centre Ltd, subsequently Amersham International plc.

After 1971, the UK Atomic Energy Authority retained its research laboratories at Springfields and Windscale. The establishments at Dounreay (the site of the Dounreay Fast Reactor and the Prototype Fast Reactor) and at Winfrith, continued to be run by Reactor Group. The Risley Site and its facilities were shared by BNFL and Reactor Group. As a result of these major changes, there remained in effect only one 'northern group', which from 1977 was known as the Northern Division. It comprised the Nuclear Power Development Establishment at Risley (the Division's headquarters), and Dounreay, and the laboratories at Risley, Springfields and Windscale.

Risley incorporated the Engineering and Planning Directorates, and Technical Services. The former Reactor Group was subsumed within this Division. Northern Division also gave up responsibility for the Atomic Energy Establishment at Winfrith which became an autonomous management unit.

The Risley laboratories remained concerned with reactor component development, and incorporated the National Centre of Tribology. The Springfields laboratories dealt chiefly with the development of fuels and fuel element components, and with the necessary fuel engineering for thermal and fast nuclear reactors. The Windscale laboratories carried out the development of plutonium fuels for fast reactors.