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Rolls-Royce Marine Power Operations, which manufactures components for submarines, was fined yesterday for breaching safety regulations at a court in Leicester, England, the U.K.’s Health and Safety Executive said. The capsule containing Ytterbium-169 used to test welding was lost for about five hours at a Rolls-Royce plant in Derby, the HSE said.

“Gamma radiation emitted by this type of radioactive source is harmful to human health,” David Orr, the HSE’s specialist inspector of radiation, said in an e-mailed statement. “The company failed its duty of care on this occasion, losing control of the source without realizing it.”

The company was investigated by the HSE and the U.K. Environment Agency after the radioactive material was lost for about five hours, exposing workers to radiation levels well above the annual permitted dose of 500 millisieverts, the HSE said.

Workers were exposed to gamma radiation when the capsule became detached from a holder and ended up inside the component being tested, the court was told in the HSE and Environment Agency joint prosecution. Welders working on the component later spotted the capsule and passed it among themselves.

The company pleaded guilty to the charges and said that it has reviewed its procedures to ensure that a similar incident can’t happen again.

“The health and safety of our workforce and the protection of the environment are our highest priorities and a matter which we take very seriously,” Andy Gordon, assurance and improvement director at London-based Rolls-Royce, said in a statement.

The company was ordered to pay a 200,000-pound fine and costs of 176,500 pounds at a hearing yesterday.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jeremy Hodges in London at jhodges17@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.netChristopher Jasper