Beyond the fence: how testing and trialling are driving Pile 1 chimney demolition

Windscale Sellafield SPIDA built on replica chimney off the Sellafield site

At the heart of our efforts to remove the Windscale Pile 1 chimney is SPIDA: the Suspended Platform with Incremental Descent Developed by ADAPT. It’s not just a machine - it’s a symbol of how Sellafield Ltd is using innovation and rigorous testing to tackle one of the site’s most complex decommissioning challenges.

Windscale: From Nuclear Pioneer to Decommissioning Landmark

Windscale at Sellafield - from nuclear pioneer to decommissioning landmark

Before we were Sellafield, we were Windscale. Today our brilliant people and supply chain partners have a different challenge – how do we safely decommission these legacy facilities?

In her own words: introducing our Chief Scientific Adviser

Cherry Tweed - Chief Scientific Office at Radioactive Waste Management

I started as Chief Scientific Adviser for Radioactive Waste Management in 2011, but I first began working on the UK’s geological disposal programme when it was just starting in the mid-1980s. At the time, I was working in computer programming, …