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"A project to remove thousands of tonnes of asbestos from the former Calder Hall nuclear power station in Cumbria has been successfully completed. Described as one of the largest projects of its kind in Europe, the project saw 2,300 tonnes of asbestos cladding removed at a cost of £26m. Work began two years after Calder Hall was shut down in 2003. "

"A WORLD'S first unfolded right here in the North 54 years ago this week, when the first nuclear power station opened. When Calder Hall in Cumbria first opened its doors on May 23 1956, it was heralded as a bold step into the future by excited scientists and an environmental catastrophe in the making by green campaigners. Yet no matter how you viewed Calder Hall, it represents one of many "world's firsts" which have come out of the region."

Plans to fast-track a new generation of power stations were met with some resistance today, after the Tories called for a vote on the issue. The Conservatives support the plans but want a debate in parliament to give them democratic legitimacy. Climate change secretary Ed Miliband unveiled the plans, including a list of sites deemed suitable for nuclear development, in the Commons this afternoon. "In every area there will be people who wish to oppose planning applications," he said.

Plans to fast-track a new generation of power stations were met with some resistance today, after the Tories called for a vote on the issue. The Conservatives support the plans but want a debate in parliament to give them democratic legitimacy. Climate change secretary Ed Miliband unveiled the plans, including a list of sites deemed suitable for nuclear development, in the Commons this afternoon. "In every area there will be people who wish to oppose planning applications," he said.

The world's first large-scale nuclear power plant opened at Calder Hall in Cumbria, England, in 1956 and produced electricity for 47 years. Nuclear power is generated using uranium, a metal that is mined as an ore in large quantities, with Canada, Australia and Kazakhstan providing more than half of the world's supplies.

ON October 17, 1956, the Queen threw a switch to connect Calder Hall nuclear power station to the grid. It was the world's first commercial nuclear power station and had been built from scratch in three years. It continued to operate well for the next 47 years, and became the first of a series of 11 Magnox nuclear power stations. Next year, the last of those will close, leaving Britain at the mercy of fossil fuel, much of it imported, to meet a growing demand for electrical power. The Magnox stations and their successors - a generation of bigger, more modern pressurised-water reactors (PWRs) - were a triumph for sophisticated, British engineering. Sizewell B PWR was built and opened in 1995. It was intended to be the first of a series of 10 PWR stations but it was to be the last one to be built in the UK - even though, at its opening, nuclear power was providing a crucial 20% of UK electricity.