Executive summary
Date(s) of inspection:
September 2025
Aim of inspection
In accordance with the Office for Nuclear Regulation’s (ONR’s) Sellafield Strategy, each year ONR performs a series of planned inspections to seek assurance of compliance against selected licence conditions, targeted at those facilities with significant importance to nuclear safety. One such inspection was undertaken at SMP and FL6 facilities within Special Nuclear Materials (SNM) South and within the Sellafield site in West Cumbria to sample evidence of implementation of Sellafield Limited's arrangements for compliance with Licence Condition (LC) 4 (Restrictions on nuclear matter on the site) and 32 (Accumulation of radioactive waste) in order to inform a regulatory judgement regarding the licensee’s compliance with its legal duties under the nuclear site licence.
Subject(s) of inspection
- LC4 - Restrictions on nuclear matter on the site - Rating: Green
- LC32 - Accumulation of radioactive waste - Rating: Green
Key findings, inspector's opinions and reasons for judgement made
The inspection was undertaken on 10 September 2025 by the SNM site inspector, a nuclear liabilities specialist inspector and a safeguards inspector.
The inspection targeted compliance against Licence Condition (LC) 4 (Restrictions on nuclear matter on the site) and 32 (Accumulation of radioactive waste). The inspection also targeted compliance against The Nuclear Safeguards (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (NSR19). This inspection record captures evidence pertinent to LC4 and LC32 compliance, whereas evidence relevant to NSR19 is in IR-53948.
The inspection involved a planning phase and a one day site visit, which included discussions with relevant Sellafield Limited personnel, review of records, sampling of information contained within electronic databases and other documentation and a plant walkdown.
From a mixture of sampling records and discussions with Sellafield Limited personnel, I concluded the following:
No significant matters were identified that required immediate regulatory attention.
I saw evidence of compliance against LC4, which included nuclear material control, accountancy system, and movement and tracking of nuclear material. Sellafield Limited undertakes various condition monitoring activities to ensure packages are safely stored.
I also saw evidence of compliance against LC32, which included waste inventories, storage of waste and waste audits. I identified a minor anomaly regarding the long storage of batteries and wood pallets in laydown and waste areas and I raised a Level 4 Regulatory Issue to monitor the prompt removal of these items.
I sampled various training records of personnel having SQEP roles under LC4 and LC32 and those sampled have completed the requisite training.
Conclusion
On the basis of the evidence sampled at the time of the inspection, I found that SNM (South) is compliant with the licensee’s corporate arrangements for LC4 and 32.
Taking all of the above into account, and noting the ONR guidance on inspection ratings, it is my opinion that, on balance, an inspection rating of Green for LC4 and 32 is merited here.