Sellafield will be prosecuted for IT offences spanning four years, the nuclear regulator said.
The Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) said it has notified Sellafield Ltd it will be prosecuted under the Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003.
The charges relate to ‘alleged information technology security offences’ between 2019 and early 2023, the ONR said.
“There is no suggestion that public safety has been compromised as a result of these issues,” the ONR stated, adding that legal proceedings follow an ONR-led investigation.
Sellafield, a nuclear site in West Cumbria, is regarded as the most hazardous of its kind in western Europe.
The Guardian reported in December 2023 that Sellafield was hacked by groups ‘closely linked to Russia and China’.
Euan Hutton, Sellafield’s boss, told the BBC later that month that there had been no cyber attack on the site.
Sellafield confirmed it had been notified of its prosecution, but did not comment further ‘as the issue is now the subject of active court proceedings’.
The ONR said it will announce the details of the first court hearing ‘when available’.
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