Sellafield towers are destroyed

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The first two of four 88 metre high cooling towers at Sellafield in Cumbria were exploded as part of the Calder Hall site's decommissioning.

A massive cloud of dust blew out over the Irish Sea as one of the UK's most recognisable landscapes was changed forever.

Only four minutes later the final pair of giant cooling towers were detonated as hundreds of residents watched from vantage points around the Sellafield site.

The world's first commercial nuclear power station - opened by the Queen on October 17, 1956 - stopped generating electricity in March 2003.

Saturday's operation was a milestone in the journey to end the power station's contribution to the national grid.

There was a massive amount of work behind the two thunderous booms that echoed around Cumbria, said Andy Scargill, Sellafield's decommissioning programme superintendent.

He said: "It is a historic day, but it is a day that is bringing together a lot of hard work, a lot of effort and a lot of technical challenges.

"It has all come to fruition.

"It looks like two minutes' worth of work today but it has taken three years to get to this point. We have had to prove the method and safety of the site. There were 150 stakeholders to discuss this with including local farmers, the regulators and the local community."