Nuclear workers are speaking out about their experience of bullying and sexism at the Sellafield plant.

It comes after whistleblower Alison McDermott launched a crowdfunding page to pay for legal fees for her whistleblowing and victimisation case lodged to the Employment Tribunal against Sellafield Ltd.

Ms McDermott says her contract at the nuclear plant was abruptly terminated after she raised concerns about “deep-rooted toxic working culture with numerous reports of bullying, harassment and discrimination.”

The nuclear workers who have come forward to speak out about their experience described a “toxic atmosphere.”

One of the employees, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “Bullying and sexism is rife. At the time when the senior manager bullied me, he was disliked across the department and known to be incompetent, for instance he wasn’t good with people, overly aggressive.

“I contacted occupational health, who offered no support, and this was after one of their team gave talks on bullying and harassment in the workplace.”

A spokesman for Sellafield Ltd said: “We regret to hear that any of our employees feel they have suffered bullying at work and we are very clear that this cannot be tolerated.”

The employee added the manager was “extremely sexist”.

She said: “I ended up moving departments because of him, even though I enjoyed my job and we were a successful team.”

The Sellafield spokesman added: “We encourage employees to report instances of bullying, harassment or discrimination through their line management if appropriate, or to their union representatives, the HR department or via our confidential telephone service.

“Since commissioning a survey in 2017 to understand our employees’ concerns we have drawn up an action plan to address bullying and harassment which we’re delivering with our owners, employees, and unions.

“This includes the introduction of a trained team of internal mediators to provide further support.”