The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

PART 4 E+W The Basic Safety Standards Directive

SECTION 1 E+W Exposures and doses

Optimisation and dose limits E+W

1.  In respect of a radioactive substances activity that relates to radioactive waste, the regulator must exercise its relevant functions to ensure that—

(a) all exposures to ionising radiation of any member of the public and of the population as a whole resulting from the disposal of radioactive waste are kept as low as reasonably achievable, taking into account economic and social factors, and

(b) the sum of the doses resulting from the exposure of any member of the public to ionising radiation does not exceed the dose limits set out in Article 13 of the Basic Safety Standards Directive subject to the exclusions set out in Article 6(4) of that Directive.

Specific dose limits and calculation E+W

2.—(1) In exercising those relevant functions in relation to the planning stage of radiation protection, the regulator must have regard to the following maximum doses to individuals which may result from a defined source—

(a) 0.3 millisieverts per year from any source from which radioactive discharges are first made on or after 13th May 2000, or

(b) 0.5 millisieverts per year from the discharges from any single site.

(2) In exercising those relevant functions, the regulator must observe the requirements of the following provisions of the Basic Safety Standards Directive—

(a) in estimating effective dose and equivalent dose, Articles 15 and 16,

(b) in estimating population doses, Article 45, and

(c) in relation to the responsibilities of undertakings, Article 47.

SECTION 2 E+W Interventions

Radioactive waste: power of the Secretary of State to provide facilities for disposal or accumulation E+W

3.—(1) If it appears to the Secretary of State that adequate facilities are not available for the safe disposal or accumulation of radioactive waste, the Secretary of State may—

(a) provide such facilities, or

(b) make arrangements for their provision by such persons as the Secretary of State may think fit.

(2) Before exercising the power under sub-paragraph (1), the Secretary of State must consult with—

(a) any local authority in whose area the facilities would be situated, and

(b) such other public or local authorities (if any) as appear to the Secretary of State to be proper to be consulted.

(3) Reasonable charges for the use of any facilities provided under sub-paragraph (1) may be made by—

(a) the Secretary of State, or

(b) the person providing such facilities, unless the arrangements made by the Secretary of State with that person provide to the contrary.

Radioactive waste: power of disposal by the regulator E+W

4.—(1) Sub-paragraph (2) applies if there is radioactive waste on any premises and the regulator is satisfied that the waste ought to be disposed of but that it is unlikely that the waste will be lawfully disposed of—

(a) because the premises are unoccupied,

(b) because the occupier is absent or insolvent, or

(c) for any other reason.

(2) The regulator may dispose of the waste and recover any expenses it reasonably incurs in that disposal from—

(a) the occupier of the premises;

(b) if the premises are unoccupied, the owner of the premises.

(3) In sub-paragraph (2)—

(a) “owner” has the same meaning as in section 343 of the Public Health Act 1936 M1 , and

(b) the provisions of section 294 of that Act M2 (which limits the liability of owners who are only agents or trustees) apply but as if reference in that section to a council recovering expenses under that Act were to the regulator recovering expenses under sub-paragraph (2).

Marginal Citations

M1 1936 c. 49.

M2 Section 294 was modified, in relation to steps required to be taken by certain notices, by S.I. 1990/1519, 1992/656 and 1492.