Sellafield Ltd is a Specialist Site Management and nuclear clean-up business. Part of the BNFL Group, our strategy and focus is clear - to deliver accelerated nuclear clean-up programmes, safely and cost-effectively for our customers in the UK and overseas. Our company is founded on a proud track record of applying in-depth experience to complex nuclear challenges. The end result will be a safe environment, both now and for future generations.
A key part of the UK nuclear industry for more than five decades the Sellafield Site represents the most challenging nuclear site management programme in the world.
Sellafield was originally established during the early 1940s to home Royal Ordnance factories, producing explosives for World War II. However, the British Government sought to develop its own independent nuclear capability recognising atomic energy could be harnessed for commercial uses.
During the early 1950s Britain's scientists and engineers combined to develop the world's first civil nuclear reactor programme In 1953 Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the building of four reactors and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II officially opened Calder Hall, the first commercial Nuclear Power Station in the world in October 1956 .
Today, Sellafield Ltd manage and operate the site on behalf of the owners, The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) . Activities centre on remediation, decommissioning, accelerated hazard reduction and clean-up of the historic legacy .
Decommissioning commenced in the late 1980s although at the time the Site emphases was focused on commercial reprocessing and waste management.
Minimal funding delayed real decommissioning progress until the formation of the NDA and British Nuclear Groups Clean Up organisation shifted this emphasis towards accelerated Decommissioning.
Nuclear Decommissioning and Major Project Group was formed in November 2006 to manage all of the current and future decommissioning work and major build projects on the Sellafield Site.
The Nuclear Decommissioning and Major Projects programme is the largest and most diverse in the world today with a total value of £42 billion.
