Projects to fix buildings containing hazardous and radioactive material at the state-owned site on the Cumbrian coast are running years late.
Sellafield's spending was so vast - with costs of more than £2.7bn a year - it was causing tension with the Treasury, the report from the National Audit Office suggested.
Officials from the finance ministry had told the NAO it was "not always clear" how Sellafield made decisions, the report said. The criticisms come as the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, prepares to plug a hole of about £40bn in her first budget.
Europe's most hazardous industrial site has previously been described by a former secretary of state as a "bottomless pit of hell, money and despair". The Guardian's Nuclear Leaks investigation last year revealed cybersecurity problems at the site, as well as issues with its safety and workplace culture.
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