Work decommissioning the former nuclear plant is behind schedule due to “failure, cost overruns and continuing safety concerns”, a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.
MPs said Sellafield ltd – the company owned by the government and tasked with delivering the clean up safely – has a history of poor performance in delivering major projects such as new buildings to store waste or make it safe.
It said reasons to be sceptical included Sellafield poor management of the refurbishment of an onsite lab so it could continue analysing waste samples – vital for safety.
While noting there were “signs of improvement”, Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the PAC chair, said Sellafield continued to present “intolerable risks”.
“Every day at Sellafield is a race against time to complete works before buildings reach the end of their life. Our report contains too many signs that this is a race that Sellafield risks losing,” he said.
This is nearly 10 years later than previously expect.
Sellafield stopped nuclear power generation in 2003 and, in addition to work cleaning up the site, now processes and stores nuclear waste from power plants around the UK.
The Government ultimately plans to store the waste in an underground geological disposal facility (GDF) for the thousands of years it will take for the radioactive material to become safe.
MPs found the date for the GDF has already slipped from 2040 to the late 2050s, “with every decade of delay meaning Sellafield could need to construct another storage building, each costing £500m-£760m.”
They said the cost of decommissioning Sellafield continues to grow – even as billions are spent on the site every year. It said a government imposed squeeze on the NDA’s budget “will mean more work slips into future years, increasing the long–term cost to the taxpayer.”
A spokesperson for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: “We expect the highest standards of safety and security as former nuclear sites are dismantled, and the regulator is clear that public safety is not compromised at Sellafield.
“We continue to support the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority in its oversight of Sellafield, while driving value for money.”
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