The UK's Atomic Energy Authority was established by Winston Churchill's Conservative Government on the 19th July 1954 to to produce, use and dispose of atomic energy and carry out research into any matters therewith.
The laboratories taken over by the AEA were:
Set up in 1945 as a research laboratory to further the use of nuclear fission for both military purposes and generating energy.
The first experimental reactor (GLEEP) started operating on the 15 August 1947 and was closed down in 1990. The second was BEPO which operated from 1948 until 1968. The third was LIDO which operated from 1956 to 1972. The fourth and fifth were DIDO and PLUTO that operated from 1956/57 until 1990.
ZETA (Zero Energy Thermonuclear Assembly) was an experiment in fusion power research. Based on the pinch plasma confinement technique, ZETA went into operation in August 1957 and was closed in 1968.
In January 1946, the Ministry of Supply set up Risley to produce fissile material for the UK nuclear programme.
In 1954, Risley was expanded and became part of UKAEA with a focus on the civil nuclear power programme which ran alongside the military one at Aldermaston.
In August 1946 the USA passed the McMahon Act, stopping its wartime collaboration with Britain on nuclear weapons.
From June 1947, the UK began the development of its own atomic bomb using the Ministry of Supply establishments at Woolwich and Fort Halstead.
Aldermaston was established on 1 April 1950 to be the centre for the UK's weapons programme.
The UK's first atomic bomb was detonated On 3 October 1952.
In November 1992, the USA successfully tested a thermonuclear device.
In July 1954, Churchill's Cabinet agreed to proceed with the development of thermonuclear weapons, thus, the establishment of the UKAEA.
The first Aldermaston computer was the Ferranti Mark 1* that arrived in 1994.
Winfrith was the first offshoot from Harwell in 1954. It was set up to test new nuclear reactor designs for power generation. The first prototype designed and built at Winfrith was SGHWR (Steam-Generating Heavy Water Reactor (SGHWR) providing power to the National Grid.
Later experimental prototypes included ZENITH (1959), NESTOR (1961), DIMPLE (1962), ZEBRA (1962), HECTOR (1963), JUNO (1964)
The Dragon reactor (1964) was the first power reactor built at Winfrith. It was the first demonstration HTGR (High-Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor)
In terms of computing requirements, the preferential order in 1959 was Aldermaston, Risley, Harwell. It was clear at that time that extra computing power was needed.
The installed computers in 1959 were:
By 1960 the immediate shortage was solved by:
NIRNS was set up as an offshoot from Harwell in 1957 to manage research into nuclear physics by the academic community, UKAEA and other government departments. Its role was:
The main NIRNS facilities were:
NIRNS functions were taken over by the Nuclear Physics Board of the new Science Research Council in 1965.
