Company Fined for not Registering Radioactive Material, and then Losing it

BBGR Limited was yesterday been fined £3,000 by magistrates who heard how it failed to register radioactive material, some of which was later lost at its Salford premises.

BBGR Limited makes lenses for spectacles and uses a radioactive source, polonium 210, on its production line. Such material should be registered under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993, but the fact that it was unregistered only came to light when a source went missing.

Nick Webb, prosecuting for the Agency, told the Court that BBGR had taken over the Comus Street site from another company in July 2001. The previous occupier had been registered to hold radioactive sources, but the registration cannot be transferred between companies.

A BBGR representative said that the company was aware it should have its own registration to hold and use radioactive sources, but had been too busy to finalise the application.

He also explained that one of the production line polonium 210 sources had been taken out, put in an unmarked cardboard box and left on a corridor floor. When Stat Attack staff arrived, about three or four weeks later, the radioactive material was missing. It has never been found.

Holders and users of radioactive material have to be registered by the Environment Agency. The Registration Certificate includes conditions to ensure companies are competent to hold the material, keep it in suitably marked containers, take precautions to prevent loss and to inform the Agency and the police of any losses.

The Environment Agency stressed that the potential radiation dose from the material, even in a worst-case scenario, would not be a significant risk to health.
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