Nuclear plant Sellafield has lost an appeals against a fines levied against it for dumping waste.
In February last year, Sellafield Ltd was fined £700,000 for sending bags of radioactive waste to a landfill site.
The bags, which contained waste such as plastic, tissues and clothing, should have been sent to a specialist facility that treats and stores low-level radioactive waste, but a number of management and operational failings led to them being sent to Lillyhall landfill site in Workington, Cumbria.
Today, the Lord Chief Justice Lord Thomas, sitting in the Court of Appeal with Mr Justice Mitting and Mrs Justice Thirlwall, said there were no grounds for criticising the level of fines imposed.
Sellafield found the error was caused by the wrong configuration of a new monitor which passed the bags, which were later retrieved and returned for correct disposal, as “general” waste, making them exempt from strict disposal controls.
The company claimed the fine was “manifestly excessive” given that there was a negligible risk of any harm and it was not a deliberate or reckless offence – but one of limited negligence which did not call for a deterrent element.