Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the incident reported at Sellafield on 14 August 2020, what assessment his Department has made of the effectiveness of the implementation of the findings and recommendations of the Sellafield Limited Board of Inquiry report into an incident involving inappropriately managed toxic chemicals discovered on 3 October 2017 at the Sellafield Analytical Services Laboratory (ASL), which was reported in February 2018.

Following the incident in 2017, the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) issued an enforcement letter to Sellafield Ltd. The letter required the organisation to review and improve their arrangements for managing waste chemicals across the site, including implementing a plan for their disposal or safe storage. Given the large quantity and variety of chemicals held on the site, this has been a significant and complex undertaking.

The Board of Inquiry into the events of October 2017 made several recommendations, which Sellafield Ltd undertook to implement. The ONR have maintained oversight of Sellafield Ltd’s progress against the identified actions and improvement plan, through ongoing regulatory activity. The ONR are content with the progress that is continuing to be made on this matter and will maintain their activities and oversight to ensure that Sellafield Ltd’s improvements in chemical management on the site are fully realised.