The Queen making her speech before pulling the switch which brought into operation Calder Hall, the world's first full scale atomic power station, near Sellafield, Cumberland 17th October 1956 With the Queen on the dais are Mr R. A. Butler, Lord Privy Seal (left) and Sir Edwin Plowden, Chairman of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (right). The ?6 1/2 million plant is now switched in to the national electricity grid.