SCHEDULE 8RADIOACTIVE SUBSTANCES ACTIVITIES

PART 1Scope and interpretation

Interpretation: this schedule and schedule 94

1

In this schedule and in schedule 9—

  • “disposal” includes—

    1. a

      discharge (whether into the environment or into a sewer or drain);

    2. b

      abandonment;

    3. c

      burial;

    4. d

      deposit;

  • “nuclear site” means—

    1. e

      any site in respect of which a nuclear site licence is for the time being in force; or

    2. f

      any site in respect of which, after the revocation or surrender of a nuclear site licence, the period of responsibility of the licensee has not yet come to an end;

  • “nuclear site licence”, “licensee” and “period of responsibility” have the meanings given in section 26 of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 M1;

  • “radioactive substance” means radioactive material or radioactive waste.

2

For the purposes of this schedule and schedule 9, any substance or article which is discharged, discarded or otherwise dealt with as if it were waste is presumed to be waste unless the contrary is proved.

3

Any reference in this schedule, in schedule 5 or in schedule 9, to the contamination of a substance or article is a reference to its becoming radioactive or its possessing increased radioactivity as a result of either or both of—

a

the absorption, admixture or adhesion of radioactive material or radioactive waste; and

b

the emission of neutrons or ionising radiations.

4

Where any reference is made to a substance or article possessing a concentration of radioactivity which exceeds the value shown in a particular column of a table in this schedule or in schedule 9, that value is exceeded—

a

where only one radionuclide which is included in that table is present in the substance or article, if the concentration of the radionuclide exceeds the concentration specified in the appropriate entry in the appropriate column of that table; or

b

where more than one such radionuclide is present, if the sum of the quotient values of all the radionuclides in the substance or article, as determined by the summation rule following that table as it applies to that column, is greater than one.