Firm that runs Sellafield faces fine after pleading guilty to illegally sending bags of nuclear waste to a landfill site
Sellafield Limited, the firm that runs the nuclear waste site, has pleaded guilty to illegally sending bags of nuclear waste to a landfill site.
The firm sent four bags of irradiated plastic, paper, tissues, clothing, wood and metal to a landfill site in Workington when they should have gone to low level radioactive waste facility at Drigg in Cumbria.
After an investigation Sellafield found the error was caused by a new piece of monitoring equipment which had mistakenly passed the bags as general waste.
Sellafield Limited pleaded guilty to seven charges under environmental and nuclear regulation laws.
Ian Parker, nuclear regulation manager for the Environment Agency, which brought the case along with the Office for Nuclear Regulation, said: 鈥淭his work of decommissioning and clean-up of the site is a national priority and we will continue to work with Sellafield Ltd, fellow regulators and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority to ensure that, in meeting this challenge, Sellafield Ltd maintains high standards of environmental performance to protect people and the environment.鈥�
The firm will face sentencing at Carlisle Crown Court on 8 March. The court has no limit on the level of fine it can impose.
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