About us
We’re creating a clean and safe environment for future generations.
Our purpose
Welcome to Sellafield
The past
Seventy-five years ago, we helped to create the nation’s nuclear deterrent.
Today, we’re using our unrivalled knowledge of nuclear to create a clean and safe environment for future generations.
At every step in between, our people have decoded the mysteries of the nuclear atom.
Those who went before us were the first to harness its powers to generate electricity on a commercial scale.
They closed the country’s fuel cycle by recycling used fuel and went on to reprocess more than anyone else in the world. And they solved the problem of how to safely look after every type of nuclear waste.
In doing so, they made a significant contribution to national low carbon power generation.
Since 1956, UK nuclear power has saved 2.3 billion tonnes of carbon emissions, the equivalent of all the UK’s emissions from 2015 to 2020.
The present - we are Sellafield
Now we’re taking waste out of buildings that are as old as the site itself, dealing with the legacy of our nuclear past. We’re looking after fuel so that nuclear power stations can continue to operate, and we’re repackaging the country’s stockpile of nuclear materials.
Once our value was measured in kilowatt hours of electricity produced, or the commercial price of reprocessed fuel. Now it is measured in our ability to place nuclear waste into containers that are safe for the long-term, to remove intolerable risks to our environment and to nurture the diverse skills our nuclear community needs.
Today we are taking great steps towards creating our clean and sustainable future.
The Future
In cleaning up the birthplace of the UK’s nuclear industry, we are once again generating growth and employment in West Cumbria, the North West of England and beyond.
Our 11,000 strong workforce is joined by more than 40,000 people from the best of the best in the nuclear supply chain, from small Cumbrian businesses to global market leaders. We need this diversity of thinking, of backgrounds, cultures and experiences.
Ensuring everyone’s voice is heard is crucial to our success and in making Sellafield Ltd a truly great place to work.
Together, we’re at the forefront of engineering, innovation, project management and leading-edge support functions.
Together, we’re building £8 billion of new waste management facilities and manufacturing tens of thousands of waste containers, while also reducing our carbon footprint.
Together, we’re inventing the robots and technology that we need to clean up Sellafield. Robots and technology that can be exported to the growing global decommissioning market.
In everything we do, we’re ensuring the £2.3 billion of public funding we’re entrusted with has economic and social impact in our communities.
Sellafield is no longer the country’s best kept nuclear secret. It’s where we’re tackling the legacy of the past, building a capability for the future, and where we’re creating a clean and safe environment for future generations.
Further reading
What we do
From cleaning-up the country’s highest nuclear risks and hazards to safeguarding nuclear fuel, materials and waste, our work is nationally important.
We do this work on behalf of our owner, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.
Our work at Sellafield
We work in 4 value streams:
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Retrievals: we are retrieving nuclear waste, fuel and sludge that are stored inside our legacy ponds and silos, the highest risks and hazards at Sellafield
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Remediation: beyond the legacy ponds and silos, we have hundreds of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities at Sellafield that need to be cleaned-up
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Spent nuclear fuel management: we currently store spent nuclear fuel from nuclear power stations in the UK. Providing a safe and secure storage route for the fuel enables those stations to keep operating and generating electricity.
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Special nuclear materials: we have the facilities and expertise to provide safe, secure and appropriate storage for special nuclear materials
Operating the Sellafield site also includes:
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nuclear waste management: we are the only organisation who can safely manage all 3 forms of nuclear waste: high, intermediate and low
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infrastructure: our day-to-day operations at Sellafield rely on the availability of a range of services, from an on-site laundry to a comprehensive rail network
In delivering of our work, including emptying our highest hazard buildings, waste management and keeping special nuclear material safe, we are building on an epic scale at Sellafield
We are currently investing in one of the largest portfolios of complex major projects in the country, creating the facilities we need for the next stage of our purpose.
Our strategy and priorities
The focus of our work is set out in our Enterprise Strategy. In that document we set out our strategic objectives and priorities for 2020-2025.
Strategic objectives
Safe, secure, sustainable, site stewardship
The safe and secure stewardship of the Sellafield site is our priority.
It covers everything from the safety of our employees and care for the environment through to the management of nuclear materials Sustainability is also part of this important value and underpins every decision we make.
Our focus areas are:
- exemplify proactive safety, security and sustainability
- reduce carbon and enhance the environment
- manage a smart, agile and resilient site
Progress at pace
Our focus remains on progress and in delivering our purpose. Sellafield is home to the oldest nuclear facilities in the UK and we are focusing our efforts on safely accelerating the clean-up of our oldest facilities.
We will also demonstrate our process through the timely completion of the Magnox reprocessing programme.
The ‘pace’ reflects that we have made some significant steps over recent years and will continue with appropriate pace and urgency.
A key change in this area is the increasing prominence of waste treatment, management and storage.
Our focus areas are:
- control and repackage special nuclear material
- empty Legacy Ponds and Silos
- lead the UK in predictable project delivery
- support national imperatives
- create quality waste products
- remediate site towards agreed end states
Lifetime value for money
This focus area is broader than a financial context and so we have used the phrase ‘lifetime value for money’ to reflect this wider holistic view of value.
Cleaning up a legacy site and reducing the government’s long-term liabilities is part of this process but we can create addition value by leaving a positive legacy for the environment.
This could be anything from improved public health or sustainable local businesses to supporting the nuclear sector deal or reducing emissions in support of climate change.
Are focus areas are:
- unlock the potential of our people
- drive innovative solutions for the future
- be a supportive employer, neighbour and industrial partner
- minimise liability for future generations
- maximise public value and return on investment
Priorities – 2020-2025
Sellafield will change over the next 3 to 5 years. We are currently investing in one of the largest portfolios of complex major projects in the country, creating the facilities we need for the next stage of our purpose.
Our retrievals programmes are transitioning into a regular drumbeat of large-scale operational activities, establishing the process of recovering, treating and packaging waste.
Similarly, we will move from small scale repackaging in our special nuclear materials facilities into a long-term production process.
By 2025 we will:
- make Sellafield a great place to work by living and breathing our manifesto behaviours
- demonstrate our nuclear professionalism by our visible pride in our environment
- work in an agile and adaptive way using digital technology
- create shared confidence in our programme and major project delivery
- have much greater understanding of the value and cost of our operations
- recognise and share expertise across the NDA Group
Our manifesto
Our strategy relies on the behaviours in our manifesto to create a great place to work, with motivated people pulling together as one team to deliver our objectives.
Co-created with employees from across our organisation, our manifesto sets out the organisation that we want to be. The behaviours we want to see. And the clear purpose that we are all working towards.
We are creating a clean and safe environment for future generations.
Our manifesto also reminds us that we are all nuclear professionals.
Regardless of our role or location, we are all here to create a clean and safe environment for future generations.
This is the expectation we all have of each other:
- we value each other
- we are one team
- we make a difference
- we are kind and respectful
- we perform with passion, pride and pace
- we re clear on what we are here to do
- we care about our community and environment
- we trust and hold to account
- we appreciate and celebrate achievements
Each part of our manifesto is owned by a member of the executive team, but it belongs to us all.
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