Sellafield faces unlimited fine over health and safety breach

The operator of the Sellafield nuclear reprocessing plant in Cumbria has pleaded guilty to breaching safety regulations over a radioactive leak.

British Nuclear Group Sellafield (BNGSL) now faces an unlimited fine after a criminal hearing today (8 June).

At Whitehaven Magistrates Court the company admitted three breaches of the Sellafield site licence conditions.

The conditions of the Nuclear Installations Act (1965) require BNG, as Thorp’s operators, to make and comply with written instructions; to ensure safety systems are in good working order and to ensure radioactive material is contained and, if leaks occur, to make sure they are detected and reported.

However, magistrates decided that their limited powers - they could only fine BNG up to a maximum of £15,000 - were not enough. The hearing has now been adjourned for sentencing on 7 July at Carlisle Crown Court, where the fine could be unlimited.

Peter Donnelly, presiding magistrate, said:

“This is clearly a case that is beyond our realms of a punishment in that we can only issue a £5,000 fine for each offence. We therefore agree with the HSE submission that the case be sent to Crown Court.”

The HSE decided to prosecute following an accident in which acid containing 20 tonnes of uranium and 160kg (353lb) of plutonium escaped from a ruptured pipe and was found in a sealed cell at the site in April 2005. No one was hurt and no radioactive material escaped into the atmosphere after the leak at the Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (Thorp) part of the site.

The court heard from Lesley Latham, on behalf of the HSE, who said that they were notified of the incident on 20 April last year, although it was discovered the previous day. She told the court that the leak, of 83 cubic metres of highly radioactive liquor, was treated very seriously by the HSE. She added that the leak, into a heavily shielded cell, had gone undetected for up to nine months.