Fun read:
https://www.engineerlive.com/content/nuclear-plant-pile-chimney-opened-first-time-over-17-yearsIn 1957 a reactor caught fire, which would have released more radiation than Chernobyl. Except ...
>Nobel prize-winning physicist John Cockcroft famously insisted that the Windscale Pile chimneys be fitted, at great expense, with high performance filters. Since this was decided after the stacks had been designed and partially built, they produced iconic bulges at the top of the structures - known as the Cockcroft’s Follies – which prevented the Windscale Fire disaster from becoming a catastrophe.Those crazy scientists and their contingency planning, always getting in the way of profits and progress.