Regulator praises Sellafield progress

Mark Foy, of the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) noted our preparation work for retrievals from our legacy silos for praise.

He also referenced the completion of key decommissioning work including:

demolition of the First Generation Reprocessing Plant Stack

removal of contaminated plant and equipment from a Special Nuclear Materials facility

the start of operations in our Cyber Security Operations Centre, the first of its kind in the nuclear industry

The report also highlighted our focus on improvements to ageing facilities and construction of new facilities to safely treat, store, and dispose of waste.

Mark Neate, Sellafield Ltd’s environment, safety and security director said:

We welcome the publication of the ONR Chief Nuclear Inspector’s Report.

It is pleasing to see our regulator acknowledge the complexity of our mission and highlight our progress in accelerating hazard and risk reduction in our legacy facilities.

Having a mature and constructive relationship with our regulators is fundamental to our ability to remain safe, learn from our experiences, and adapt to new thinking. Such scrutiny helps us to trend our performance, identify areas for improvement and close any gaps.

Sellafield is the UK’s most complex nuclear site. Our daily work presents substantial nuclear, environmental, radiological, chemical, and conventional safety and security challenges.

Keeping our workforce, supply chain partners, facilities, and the environment safe and secure is a continuous pursuit that requires the focus and attention of everyone involved at Sellafield, every day.

As reprocessing concludes our mission is evolving to a focus on waste management and clean up. We look forward to working with the ONR and others to sustain and improve our performance in the future.

Chief Nuclear Inspector’s annual report on Great Britain’s nuclear industry 2020