Overview

• Cleanup costs have risen by over £20 billion to an estimated £136 billion, leaving the project 13 years behind schedule and extending decommissioning over more than a century.
• The Magnox Swarf Storage Silo has leaked radioactive water into the ground since 2018 at a rate equivalent to an Olympic pool every three years, and the discharge is not expected to stop until the 2050s.
• Sellafield Ltd has repeatedly missed its annual waste retrieval targets, slowing hazard reduction and keeping ageing infrastructure dangerously exposed.
• A parliamentary committee flagged a sub-optimal culture at Sellafield Ltd, noting the use of 16 non-disclosure agreements and the abandonment of a £127 million lab renovation due to cost and planning failures.
• Delays to an underground geological disposal facility have slipped its opening from 2040 to the late 2050s, forcing extended interim storage and inflating overall costs.