OUR HERITAGE

It’s in our heritage
The history of International Nuclear Services is closely interconnected with the development of civil nuclear power in the UK – a story that stretches back to the 1940s.
INS began life over 40 years ago as the Spent Fuel Services and Transport Division of British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) who at the time were responsible for providing services that covered almost every part of the nuclear fuel cycle, including reprocessing and spent fuel management.
In 2008 INS became a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA), an executive non-departmental public body responsible for ensuring the safe and efficient clean-up of the UK’s nuclear legacy.
INS contributes to delivering the NDA’s strategy by providing specialist nuclear transport, design and licensing services, and by managing NDA’s inherited fuel cycle contracts with UK and overseas customers.
A big part of our work in support of NDA’s strategy involves the transportation of spent fuels and the return of waste to countries of origin. We operate Pacific Nuclear Transport Limited (PNTL), the world’s most experienced nuclear shipping company who have a fleet of three INF3 nuclear transport carriers.
As well as continuing to contribute to the delivery of NDA’s strategy we use the skills and experience we have accumulated over 40 years to help a range of customers unlock their own nuclear challenges.
People choose International Nuclear Services because our world-leading experience inspires trust. Without it we wouldn’t be able to keep delivering safely and securely for our customers, time after time.
Timeline
1947
Start of pioneering research at Sellafield
1956
First Magnox reactor, Calder Hall, opened
1971
British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) is formed
1975
Pacific Nuclear Transport Ltd (PNTL) is formed: homeport Barrow
1979
First purpose built ship for PNTL
1985
10 years of PNTL spent fuel shipments
1994
Thorp reprocessing begins at Sellafield
2008
INS Ltd becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of NDA and PNTL becomes a subsidiary of INS
2010
First vitrified residue return from UK – Japan, and UK to Netherlands
2012
Oceanic Pintail joins the INS fleet
2014
INS signs nuclear co-operation memorandum of agreement at UK-China summit
2016
INS completes the largest removal of nuclear materials as part of a transport from Japan to USA