Is Atomfall inspired by a real life event?

Rebellion's upcoming survival game Atomfall is set five years after the events of the Windscale nuclear disaster. There once existed a real life nuclear plant by that name, which makes eager players question whether the title is inspired by it. The answer to that is yes, Atomfall is inspired by a real life event. The Windscale disaster was a real life event. However, it did not make it to worldwide media, and is thus lesser known amidst the other failed nuclear events.

In this article, we shall take a deeper dive into the real life event that Atomfall takes inspiration from to spin its own mysterious tale.

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The real life disaster that shaped Atomfall

Often referred to as "Britain's Chernobyl," the Windscale nuclear disaster was the worst accident of its category in the nation's history. The power plant was a part of British post-war atomic bomb project. There were two specific reactors, out of which one caught fire. This fire went unnoticed for three days.

Rebellion's latest game will feature a world design set in the aftermath of a nuclear disaster (Image via Rebellion)

Workers in the plant had reported strange readings from their measuring devices back on October 10, 1957. Soon after, they learned that a fire had been spreading internally for the last few days. After conducting additional analysis, they found one of the facility's two primary reactors was at extremely high temperatures. Despite the recovery efforts, the nuclear fallout managed to escape, resulting in the eventual tragedy.

The Windscale fire on which Rebellion's latest survival game is based was eventually found to be the result of defective machinery, combined with irresponsible construction of the reactor itself. What further let the events spiral out of hand were the complications regarding the plant's ventilation system, as it was unable to de-escalate the situation.

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Casualties from the Windscale nuclear disaster

At the time, there was special concern about the radioactive element Iodine-131. Since then, it has been discovered that there was also a minor but notable discharge of the extremely hazardous radioactive isotope Polonium-210. According to estimates, the radiation leak may have resulted in an extra 240 instances of cancer, 100-to-240 of which were fatal.

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