The legacy of Windscale Pile No. 1
December 17, 2025, 9:29AMNuclear News

The Windscale Piles, circa 1956. (Photo: DOE)
The core of Pile No. 1 at Windscale caught fire in the fall of 1957. The incident, rated a level 5, “Accident with Wider Consequences,” by the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES), has since inspired nuclear safety culture, risk assessment, accident modeling, and emergency preparedness. Windscale also helped show how important communication and transparency are to gaining trust and public support.
