Calder Abbey

St Bridget's Church is on the north side of the A595 road in the village of Calder Bridge, near Beckermet, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Calder, the archdeaconry of West Cumberland, and the diocese of Carlisle. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.

Calder Bridge (also Calderbridge) is a small village in Cumbria in England. It is located between the hamlets of Gosforth and Beckermet and lies on the River Calder. It is around 1 mile northeast from the Sellafield nuclear plant—Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station was the world's first major nuclear power station when it opened in 1956. The village contains the Grade II listed St Bridget's Church, the Grade II listed Pelham House (formerly Ponsonby Hall) and the Stanley Arms inn.

Ponsonby is a village and civil parish in the Cumberland district of the county of Cumbria, England. Ponsonby has a church which was constructed in 1840 and had further additions in 1874. Ponsonby is located along and just off the A595. It has a population of 205 according to the 2011 Census Data.

Cold Fell is a hill in the west of the English Lake District. It is easily climbed from the road between Ennerdale Bridge and Calder Bridge. This road is in fact known as Cold Fell Road and is used by many Sellafield employees living in Cockermouth. The fell is grassy and nowhere steep. The summit is very flat but offers a view of the west Cumbrian coastline and Sellafield. Cold Fell is home to a group of horses which roam freely about a number of fells in the area. Cold Fell is the subject of a chapter of Wainwright's book The Outlying Fells of Lakeland. Unusually he does not specify a route of ascent, saying: "If, with the aid of the map only, you cannot find the top of Cold Fell, then take some good advice, old man, and pack it in." He lists the height as 955 feet (291 m).

Blackbeck is a small village in Cumbria, England. It is northeast of Beckermet and Sellafield, along the A595 road. It contains properties such as the Blackbeck Inn, Blackbeck Farm and Brow House.

Haile is a small village and civil parish in Copeland district, in the county of Cumbria, England. It had a population of 617 at the 2011 census. Nearby settlements include the town of Egremont and the villages of Thornhill and Beckermet. For transport there is the A595 road nearby. The village stands high, and is exposed to the west winds. The parish is situated near the River Ellen, and comprised the townships of Hale and Wilton.

Calder is a small hamlet in Cumbria, England. It is overlooked by the Sellafield nuclear plant—Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station was the world's first major nuclear power station when it opened in 1956.

Calder Hall Nuclear Power Station is a former Magnox nuclear power station on the Sellafield site in Cumbria in North West England. Calder Hall was the first full-scale nuclear power station to enter operation in the World, and was the sister plant to the Chapelcross plant in Scotland. Both were commissioned and originally operated by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. The primary purpose of both plants was to produce weapons-grade plutonium for the UK's nuclear weapons programme, but they also generated electrical power for the National Grid. Decommissioning by Sellafield Ltd started in 2005. The site is partially demolished and is expected that only the reactor cores and associated radiation shielding will remain by 2027, when it will enter a period of extended care and maintenance using the "safestore" principle, before final demolition.

The Windscale fire of 10 October 1957 was the worst nuclear accident in the United Kingdom's history, ranked in severity at level 5 out of 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. The fire was in Unit 1 of the two-pile Windscale site (now Sellafield) on the north-west coast of England in Cumberland. The two graphite-moderated reactors, referred to at the time as "piles", had been built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project. Windscale Pile No. 1 was operational in October 1950, followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951. The fire burned for three days and released radioactive fallout which spread across the UK and the rest of Europe. The radioactive isotope iodine-131, which may lead to cancer of the thyroid, was of particular concern at the time. It has since come to light that small but significant amounts of the highly dangerous radioactive isotope polonium-210 were also released. Calculations based on the amount of radiation released estimate that the accident may have caused 190 cases of cancer, with around 100 of these being fatal, however recent epidemiological studies failed to find any such increase. At the time of the incident, no one was evacuated from the surrounding area, but milk from about 500 km2 (190 square miles) of the nearby countryside was destroyed for about a month afterward due to concerns about it being contaminated with iodine-131. The UK government played down the events at the time, and reports on the fire were subject to heavy censorship, as Prime Minister Harold Macmillan feared the incident would harm British–American nuclear relations. The event was not an isolated incident; there had been a series of radioactive discharges from the piles in the years leading up to the accident. In early 1957, there had been a leak of radioactive material in which strontium-90 was released into the environment. Like the later fire, this incident was covered up by the British government. Later studies on the release of radioactive material due to the Windscale fire revealed that much of the contamination had resulted from such radiation leaks before the fire. A 2010 study of workers involved in the cleanup of the accident found no significant long-term health effects from their involvement.

Haile Parish Church is near Haile, Cumbria, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Calder, and the diocese of Carlisle. Its benefice is Egremont with Bigrigg & Haile. The church is a grade 2 listed building.

The Windscale Piles were two air-cooled graphite-moderated nuclear reactors on the Windscale nuclear site in Cumberland (now known as Sellafield site, Cumbria) on the north-west coast of England. The two reactors, referred to at the time as "piles", were built as part of the British post-war atomic bomb project and produced weapons-grade plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. Windscale Pile No. 1 became operational in October 1950 followed by Pile No. 2 in June 1951. They were intended to last five years, but operated for seven until shut down following the Windscale fire on 10 October 1957. Nuclear decommissioning operations commenced in the 1980s and are estimated to last beyond 2040. Visible changes have been seen as the chimneys were slowly dismantled from top-down; Pile 2's chimney being reduced to the height of adjacent buildings in the early 2000s. However, the demolition of pile 1 chimney has taken much longer as it was significantly contaminated after the 1957 fire. The reactor cores still remain to be dismantled.

The Windscale Advanced Gas Cooled Reactor (WAGR) was a nuclear power plant constructed on the Sellafield nuclear site in Cumbria, England.