Preston - British Nuclear Fuels was fined £20,000 yesterday after admitting it discharged more than twice the permitted amount of chemicals into a river.
The state-owned company was also ordered to pay £19,415 costs to the Environment Agency, which brought the case over BNFL's Springfield site in Preston, Lancashire.
The firm pleaded guilty at Preston Magistrates Court to exceeding the limit of chemicals in a sample taken from effluent discharged into the River Ribble, and to failing to supply staff with proper written instructions.