A notable exception to this positive trend is the ‘Replacement Analytical Project’ (RAP) – which Sellafield Ltd now believes should be abandoned.44 This project would have refurbished a laboratory on the site so Sellafield Ltd would be able to continue analysing samples of waste – which is essential to operate the site safely. It would also deliver new capabilities that will be required by another facility, the ‘Sellafield Product and Residue Store Retreatment Plant’ (SRP). Sellafield Ltd will use SRP to repackage plutonium, so it can be stored more safely.45 When the Outline Business Case was approved in 2020, Sellafield Ltd believed that RAP was very likely to cost less than £800 million, with RAP ready to support SRP by October 2027 (it expected to achieve these outcomes in 80% of the scenarios it modelled).46 By late 2023, the estimated cost had risen to £1,500–£1,800 million, while RAP would be unable to support SRP until November 2033 at the earliest (delaying its opening by at least five years).47 The NDA told us that there were several causes of this: an inadequate understanding of what Sellafield and other customers needed from RAP, over–optimism about how much it would cost, too little consideration of the condition of Sellafield’s buildings, as well as poor project management.48