What is Sellafield?
10 Sep 2018 02:48 PM
Blog posted by: Emma Law, 7 September 2018 – Categories: Research and development, Skills, Waste management.
What do you know about Sellafield? Encircled by miles of fencing, and with armed guards at its gates, for many people - Sellafield is an enigma.
Sellafield itself is in north-west England, in a remote costal location with the Irish Sea on one side and the mountains of the Lake District on the other.
Sellafield the town
Covering a footprint of 2 square miles, hundreds of buildings and thousands of people, Sellafield needs some of the same infrastructures as a small town.
Did you know that Sellafield has:
- an active and non-active laundry?
- a postal service?
- canteens?
- shops?
- utilities, including water and steam?
- a road and rail network?
- an armed police force?
- a civilian guard force?
- emergency services including fire and rescue and paramedics?
- a medical team?
Sellafield is changing
Here we’ll explain what Sellafield was when the site first opened, what it is today – and what it’s becoming.
The best of the best people work here, in a range of extraordinary roles. And we have a critical mission.
70 years of national service
In 1947, the Sellafield site opened with a single mission – the production of plutonium, a radioactive chemical element for use in Britain’s nuclear deterrent. As the nation’s priorities shifted, pioneers at the site:
- designed and built the world’s first commercial-sized nuclear power station
- recycled nuclear fuel so that both plutonium and uranium, another chemical element, could be recovered and reused
- created safe treatment and storage options for all types of nuclear waste
Today the Sellafield site presents one of the most significant environmental remediation challenges in Europe.
Did you know?
- Sellafield covers 2-square miles
- it operates 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
- it’s home to 4 of the biggest nuclear risks and hazards in Europe
- over 10,000 staff operate the site
- more than 4,000 supply chain experts help our employees
- we spend £2 billion every year – but are a non-profit organisation
Click here for the full blog post