Tom Tuohy

In 2007, the BBC produced another documentary about the accident titled "Windscale: Britain’s Biggest Nuclear Disaster", which investigates the history of the first British nuclear facility and its role in the development of nuclear weapons. The documentary features interviews with key scientists and plant operators, including Tom Tuohy. The documentary suggests that the fire – the first fire in any nuclear facility – was caused by the relaxation of safety measures, as a result of pressure from the British government to quickly produce fissile materials for nuclear weapons.

In 1990, the first of three BBC documentaries on the incident was shown. Titled Our Reactor is on Fire, the documentary featured interviews with key plant workers, including Tom Tuohy.

On 10 October 1957 his boss phoned him at home where he was nursing a family sick with flu, saying: "Come at once. Pile number one is on fire." Leaving his wife and two children, he told them to stay indoors and keep all the windows closed.

During World War II he worked for the Royal Ordnance as a chemist, and in 1946 joined the nuclear industry, becoming deputy general manager of Windscale in 1957.

Thomas Tuohy CBE (7 November 1917 – 12 March 2008) was deputy to the general manager at the Windscale nuclear facility when a major fire erupted on 10 October 1957. He was the leading participant in efforts to put out the fire which was emitting radioactive contamination into the air, and so played a key role in minimising Britain's worst nuclear disaster.