On the 50th Anniversary of the Windscale Fire, the bravery of those who tackled it and those who died or suffered health damage locally, nationally and in Europe as a result of the radioactivity released will be remembered by local pressure group CORE [Cumbrians Opposed to a Radioactive Environment.
As a simple gesture of remembrance, CORE campaigner Janine Allis-Smith – accompanied by Greenpeace consultant Jean McSorley – will lay flowers on the commemoration plaque at the Windscale perimeter fence at 3pm 10th October 2007. The plaque was dedicated by CORE and others in 1987 on the 30th Anniversary of what remains one of the world’s worst nuclear accidents. CORE invites members of the public to lay or add their own floral tributes during this week of remembrance.
CORE’s Janine Allis-Smith said today “We must never forget the sacrifices made wittingly and unwittingly as a result of the Fire. Neither must we forget, in today’s head long rush to build new reactors, that human error played a major role in the Fire and in numerous subsequent nuclear accidents – a falibility that can be reduced by improved technology but never eradicated”