BNFL due back in court

Controversy over Sellafield's shipments to Japan continues

Operators of the Sellafield reprocessing plant are due to appear in court on Thursday accused of failing to comply with nuclear safety laws.

British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) was ordered to improve its handling of sealed radioactive sources at the complex in Cumbria last year.

But magistrates in Whitehaven will hear that the state-owned company failed to comply with the order from the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) more than two months ago.

BNFL, which is at the centre of a continuing row over the falsification of data for nuclear fuel shipments to Japan, also faces three further charges connected with the handling of radioactive sources.

It is the second time this year the Cumbrian plant has been prosecuted for safety breaches. It is not yet known how BNFL intends to plead to the fresh allegations.

Risk of leakage

The sealed sources, usually containing a small amount of radioactive material, are kept at the plant to help test and calibrate radioactive monitoring equipment.

But the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) - the parent body of the NII - alleges that BNFL failed to carry out suitable tests to detect radioactive leakage from one of the sources.

Inside Sellafield: BNFL is charged with several safety breaches

Operators at the troubled plant also stand accused of failing to account for and keep records of the quantity and location of four other sources and failing to account for another source.

The offence of failing to comply with the NII's Improvement Notice carries a maximum fine of £20,000 on summary conviction before magistrates, or an unlimited fine on an indictment before a crown court.

Shake-up

In June Whitehaven magistrates fined the company £40,000 and ordered it to pay £35,000 costs after it admitted breaching safety regulations.

In July, BNFL agreed to take back a flawed shipment of nuclear fuel sold to Japan from the Sellafield plant in Cumbria last year.

It admitted it had misled the Japanese by falsifying records about safety checks on the consignment.

There was also a high-level management shake-up at BNFL after the damning report by the NII over a lack of a safety culture at the plant.