Catalogue description United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority: Committee of Inquiry into the Accident at Windscale No 1 Pile on 10 October 1957: Records and Exhibits

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Details of AB 86
Reference: AB 86
Title: United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority: Committee of Inquiry into the Accident at Windscale No 1 Pile on 10 October 1957: Records and Exhibits
Description:

This series includes the report of the Committee of Inquiry into the Accident at Windscale No 1 Pile on 10 October 1957, files from earlier record series and metallic objects affected by the accident.
Date: 1950-1989
Held by: British Library, Sound Archive
The National Archives, Kew
Legal status: Public Record(s)
Language: English
Physical description: 104 files and cases
Access conditions: Open unless otherwise stated
Immediate source of acquisition:

from 1987 United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority
Custodial history: AB 86/1-16 are audio tapes; in March 2013 they were transferred to the British Library Sound Archive (with the new references G10/01/01-16).
Administrative / biographical background:

The Committee of Inquiry was set up by the Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority, Lord Plowden, under the Chairmanship of Sir William Penney, KBE, FRS, Director of the Atomic Weapons Research Establishment, Aldermaston, and a full member of the UKAEA.

  • The members of the committee of inquiry were:
  • Dr B F J Schonland, CBE, FRS, Deputy Director of the Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Harwell
  • Professor J M Kay, MA, PhD, AMIMechE, AMIMChemE, Professor of Engineering (Nuclear), Imperial College of Science and Technology
  • Professor J Diamond, MSc, WhSch, MIMechE, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Manchester University
  • The secretary to the committee was Mr D E H Peirson, Secretary of the UKAEA.

  • The terms of reference of the committee were:
  • To investigate the cause of the accident at Windscale No 1 Pile on October 1957 and the measures taken to deal with it and its consequences; and to report.

The inquiry opened of 17 October 1957, seven days after the accident, and took evidence from 37 witnesses on eight of the nine days from 17 to 25 October 1987. The committee's report was completed on 26 October 1957 and submitted to Lord Plowden.

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