The European Commission has begun legal action against the British government over what it claims are unacceptable failings in dealing with nuclear waste at Sellafield.
British plans submitted to Brussels in June to improve waste monitoring were rejected as an inadequate response to long-standing Commission complaints about breaches of EU nuclear safety rules.
Loyola de Palacio, the Commission Vice President responsible for energy, said she had a duty to protect the interests of citizens.
The dispute is over verification of the safety of spent nuclear fuel which is currently stored in a pond at the Sellafield site, run by British Nuclear Fuels (BNFL) in Cumbria.
Brussels is concerned that EU inspectors cannot properly verify the state of the waste as required, but there is no suggestion that the waste has gone astray.
