The Sellafield nuclear site closed in 2003, having operated since 1950. Work began to decommission the site in 2005. Highly hazardous materials are stored there from across the UK’s nuclear industry, and it holds a legacy of contaminated buildings, untreated waste and ageing facilities. The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), the public body in charge of Sellafield, expects full site remediation will take until 2125. The forecast future cost of decommissioning Sellafield, after adjusting for inflation, was £136bn in March 2024 – this is 18.8% higher than it was in March 2019.
The Committee last reported on Sellafield in 2018, when it found that Government needed a firmer grip on the challenges the site presents. The report recognised that significant milestones had been met in reducing risk at the high hazard facilities at Sellafield, it found that most major projects there were significantly delayed, with expected combined cost overruns at the time of £913m. Earlier that same year, the Committee scrutinised the procurement and management of the contract to clean up the Magnox nuclear reactor and research sites, finding that costly mistakes in these areas caused untold reputational damage to the NDA.
The National Audit Office (NAO) found in 2024 that, despite progress having been made since 2018 on areas including hazardous waste retrieval and storage, value for money is not yet being achieved at Sellafield. The report the need to address the deteriorating condition of key assets, the lack of a comprehensive measure to assess progress in reducing risk, and large projects still being delivered later than planned and at higher cost.
Based on the NAO report, the Committee will hear from senior officials at the NDA, DESNZ and Sellafield Ltd on subjects including:
- Risk reduction and progress to date in managing risk;
- Progress towards decommissioning with ongoing and future costs; and
- Operational effectiveness and organisational culture.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.
If you have evidence on these issues please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 6 March 2025.