Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 19
28th Report - Decommissioning Sellafield
Published 4 Jun 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Decommissioning Sellafield All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Sellafield Ltd now plans to convert a different building to support SRP, and also refurbish the existing building so it can carry on using it until 2040 (whereas RAP had been expected to remain in use until 2070).49 The NDA told us that it expects this to cost between £420 million and £840 million – which is considerably less than RAP would have cost. It also told us that it currently expects that SRP will only be delayed by around one year – though there is still a lot of uncertainty around how long the gap would be (or whether there would even be a gap at all). There could, however, be further costs if the facility is required to continue operating beyond 2040. 44 Letter from the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority relating to Public Accounts Committee’s visit to Sellafield, 17 March 2025, page 2 45 Letter from the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority relating to Public Accounts Committee’s visit to Sellafield, 17 March 2025; C&AG’s report, para 2.17 46 Letter from the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority relating to Public Accounts Committee’s visit to Sellafield, 17 March 2025, page 2; C&AG’s report, para 2.18 47 C&AG’s report, para 2.20 48 Letter from the Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority relating to Public Accounts Committee’s visit to Sellafield, 17 March 2025, page 2 49 Letter from the Group Chief Executive Officer at the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority relating to the oral evidence session held on 20 March on Decommissioning Sellafield, 4 April 2025, page 3; Q69 15 The NDA told us that it believes it does not make sense to spend money now to enable this due to the uncertainty about what analysis will be required after 2040 and the potential for technological innovation.50
From: Public Accounts Committee, 28th Report - Decommissioning Sellafield (HC 363), 4 June 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-eighth Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 4 August 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Twenty-eighth report from Session 2024-26
Published 18 September 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it agrees with each of the Committee's recommendations covered in this extract, with target implementation dates ranging from December 2025 to March 2027, though some are already implemented and some publication details remain to be settled.
- On oversight (recommendation 1), the government agrees and describes the recommendation as implemented. Since January 2025 the department's Principal Sponsor chairs monthly performance meetings, and a review of the revised governance structure will be initiated within 2025-26.
- On medium-term targets (recommendation 2), the government agrees, with a target date of March 2027. Work "is required to establish how and then when this information would be made public", and DESNZ will commission an independent, externally led review of the NDA Group by end-2025.
- On asset management (recommendation 4), the government agrees and says the recommendation is implemented. It states that "Solely increasing the productivity of maintenance teams misses the demands" of the site's complex asset picture.
- On long-term cost scenarios (recommendation 5), the government agrees, with a target date of December 2026. It says "It will be necessary to agree the mechanism and timing, including what is published".