BNFL in court over `safety breach'

British Nuclear Fuels is to be prosecuted over breaches of safety rules at its Sellafield plant in Cumbria, the Health and Safety Executive said yesterday. The hearing at Whitehaven magistrates' court on 24 July follows an inquiry by the HSE's Nuclear Installations Inspectorate into an incident in March last year when a flask containing spent irradiated Magnox fuel elements was transferred between buildings without enough water to submerge the fuel.

A BNFL spokesman said the incident did not result in any release of radiation or injuries.