Sellafield Limited is to be prosecuted over a waste disposal incident, the Environment Agency and Office for Nuclear Regulation has announced.
The regulators’ joint action follows an extensive investigation which has led to allegations that the company sent and disposed of four bags of low-level radioactive waste from its site in West Cumbria, to Lillyhall landfill site, in nearby Workington, Cumbria, in 2010.
The company faces nine charges, to be heard before Workington Magistrates Court on 12 December 2012. Eight charges have been brought by the Environment Agency and one charge brought by the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
The Environment Agency charges are brought under the Radioactive Substances Act and Environmental Permitting Regulations, while the Office for Nuclear Regulation charge is brought under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the Carriage of Dangerous Goods and Use of Transportable Pressure Equipment Regulations 2009.
Sellafield Limited responded to the annoucement without comment. “As this matter is subject to court proceedings we are unable to comment further at this stage,” it said in a 15 November statement.
