Skip to navigation Skip to content

Company Profile

Our Business

Sellafield Ltd has two sites, one in West Cumbria and one at Capenhurst in Cheshire. At these sites we are carrying out some of the most innovative and complex nuclear decommissioning in the world. At Sellafield, the compact site contains more than 1,000 facilities all performing a wide range of tasks, both geared towards decommissioning the UK’s nuclear legacy and fuel recycling, manufacture and waste management.

At Capenhurst, the site is due to be the first UK nuclear site to complete its decommissioning and clean-up programme and on the way has delivered the biggest demolition projects ever undertaken in the UK nuclear industry. It’s management of the final stages of decommissioning offers other sites an insight into the challenges they will face and provides a blueprint for success.

At Sellafield the best companies are contracted to help deliver more innovation and local firms have grown to adapt to the specific needs of the nuclear industry and the area is now a centre of excellence for nuclear decomissioning firms.

To help fund nuclear clean-up, revenue from our commercial fuel recycling and manufacturing operations is managed by International Nuclear Services (INS). INS is the customer interface for used fuel reprocessing and mixed oxide (Mox) fuel supply contracts with over 20 utility customers. They are also responsible for the transport of nuclear fuel products to both UK and overseas customers.

Our Safety

The health and safety of the workforce, in both radiological and conventional terms, is paramount to Sellafield Ltd. For conventional safety we set our own standards and for radiological safety we are set standards by the independent regulator, the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate. Our focus is to exceed those standards to achieve a world class level, indeed the Capenhurst site already is through its unique Safety First programme, which sees shop floor workers, not managers, leading on safety.

Our People

Between them, the Sellafield and Capenhurst sites are operated by around 10,000 of the most experienced and highly regarded nuclear workers in the world. The workforce ranges from apprentices, graduates and doctorates, through to those who began work in the 1960s. Their expertise covers all of Sellafield Ltd’s needs, from standard business functions, to the numerous fields of highly specialised decommissioning. We are committed to bringing to our sites the best people available, either from local communities or from around the world to continue Sellafield Ltd’s reputation as a nuclear centre of excellence.

Our Delivery

Both Sellafield and Capenhurst sites contain some of the most complex and wide-ranging nuclear challenges in the world and as a contractor our focus is to deliver cost-effective solutions to those challenges. The compact nature of both sites means that a building set for decommissioning and destruction can also be situated next to an active building, requiring in-depth planning that stands up to independent safety scrutiny and very careful execution. The ingenuity of our workforce regularly leads to innovative solutions to difficult problems in order to continue the high levels of productivity and efficiency.

Our Environment

We aim to leave the lightest environmental footprint by reducing, reusing and recycling as much as possible. Our environmental performance standards are set by the Environment Agency and our job is to exceed those standards, both in radiological and conventional terms. Waste minimisation is a high priority in all aspects of the company, whether it be contaminated materials being reduced in size for storage, or energy efficiency. We use our resources to educate and promote energy usage and recycling both in the workplace and at home.

Our Future

By investing in education and training we are supporting the future of our communities and the future of nuclear skills.. Sellafield Ltd has strong links to its surrounding area and the education setup at all levels. Science and engineering ambassadors visit schools to generate grassroots interest in engineering and we are also a sponsor of the West Lakes Schools Academy, which will encourage a science focus.

The company also supports advanced education by way of sponsoring the new Nuclear Skills Academy and the Gen II apprenticeship programme that provides much of the workforce at Sellafield’s site in West Cumbria.

At a strategic economic level we are heavily involved with much of Cumbria’s regeneration programmes and organisations like the West Lakes Renaissance, Northwest Regional Development Agency and the plans for Britain’s Energy Coast, all benefit from Sellafield’s Ltd’s contribution.