Lois took part in a visit to Sellafield Ltd, gaining insight into some of the site's historic and current decommissioning activities.
During the visit, Lois toured several important facilities across the Sellafield site, including one of the site's legacy storage ponds, the Pile 1 reactor charge face, and the AGR fuel dismantling facility. The experience provided an opportunity to see the scale and complexity of nuclear decommissioning operations and to learn more about the challenges associated with managing and processing legacy nuclear materials. Observing these facilities first-hand helped to place ongoing research activities within the wider context of the UK's nuclear clean-up mission.
As part of the visit, Lois also delivered a presentation on her PhD research to an audience of fellow researchers and representatives from organisations across the nuclear industry. Attendees included staff from Sellafield Ltd, Dounreay, Nuclear Waste Services, the Environment Agency, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), and United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL).
The presentation enabled Lois to share the aims and progress of her research, receive feedback from experienced industry professionals, and discuss how academic research can support real-world decommissioning challenges.