The Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 19543 shall apply to these Regulations as it applies to an Act of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

In these Regulations—

• “the 1965 Act” means the Nuclear Installations Act 19654;

• “the 1993 Act” means the Radioactive Substances Act 1993;

• “the Chief Inspector” means the Chief Inspector appointed by the Department under section 4 of the Radioactive Substances Act 19935;

• “the Department” means the Department of the Environment;

• “the Directive” means Council Directive 96/29/Euratom6 laying down basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionising radiation;

• “exposure” means the process of humans being exposed to ionising radiation;

• “harm” means lasting exposure to any human being resulting from the after-effects of a radiological emergency, past practice or past work activity.

• “intervention” means a human activity that prevents or decreases the exposure of individuals to radiation from sources which are not part of a practice or which are out of control, by acting on sources, transmission pathways and individuals themselves;

• “intervention notice” means a notice in writing served by the Chief Inspector on a responsible person requiring intervention;

• “ionising radiation” means the transfer of energy in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves of a wavelength of 100 nanometres or less or a frequency of 3 x 10¹⁵ Hertz or more capable of producing ions directly or indirectly;

• “lasting exposure” means an exposure likely to give rise to harm to human health arising from one or more of the following dose criteria:

  1. i

     an effective dose of 3 millisieverts per annum; or

  2. ii

     an equivalent dose to the lens of the eye of 15 millisieverts per annum; or

  3. iii

     an equivalent dose to the skin of 50 millisieverts per annum.

• “nuclear installations” shall have the same meaning as under the 1965 Act;

• “polluter” means any person, or any of the persons, who caused or knowingly permitted the radioactive substances to be in, on or under the land;

• “practice” means a human activity that can increase the exposure of individuals to radiation from an artificial source, or from a natural radiation source where natural radionuclides are processed for their radioactive, fissile or fertile properties, except in the case of an emergency exposure;

• “radiological emergency” means a situation that requires urgent action in order to provide radiological protection to workers, members of the public or the population either partially or as a whole;

• “relevant foreign law” and “relevant foreign operator” shall have the same meaning as under the 1965 Act;

• “responsible person” means first the polluter and if the polluter is not found the owner or occupier of the land;

• “substance” means, whether in solid or liquid form or in the form of a gas or vapour, any substance which contains radionuclides which have resulted from the after-effects of a radiological emergency or which are or have been processed as part of a past practice or past work activity, but shall not include radon gas or the following radionuclides: Po-218, Pb-214, At-218, Bi-214, Rn-218, Po-214 and Tl-210.