Ongoing concerns over project management, the pace of delivery and staffing at Sellafield mean it is not yet achieving value for money, a new National Audit Office (NAO) report has said.

Sellafield, located on the coast of Cumbria, began operating as a commercial-scale nuclear power station in 1956.

In the intervening years, it has grown to be the UK’s most complex and challenging nuclear site, with highly hazardous materials stored in its facilities from across the country.

As such, the scale of the decommissioning operation is vast and will last until 2039.The site is owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), which is an executive non-departmental body sponsored by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

In its report the NAO found that while progress has been made on “numerous fronts”, such as the safe removal of certain types of hazardous waste, it is “not yet achieving value for money”.

It also found that four of the major projects that were under way when the NAO...