The Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste and Spent Fuel Regulations 2008

PART 3 General

Unlawful shipments

14.—(1) The competent authority may decide that the shipment may not be completed if it is not in accordance with these Regulations or in accordance with its authorisation.

(2) If it does so it must immediately inform the competent authorities in all countries involved in the shipment.

(3) In the case of radioactive waste or spent fuel that has been brought into the United Kingdom, the person holding the authorisation (or the person having responsibility for a shipment that has not been authorised) must either return the consignment to the country of origin if instructed to do so by the competent authority, taking corrective safety measures if necessary, or otherwise dispose of it as instructed by the competent authority, and failure to comply with an instruction of the competent authority is an offence.

(4) In the case of radioactive waste or spent fuel that has been sent out of the United Kingdom—

(a) unless alternative safe arrangements can be made, the competent authority must serve a notice on the person holding the authorisation requiring the authorised person to take the shipment back, and

(b) the person holding the authorisation must comply with the notice, taking corrective safety measures if necessary, and failure to do so is an offence.

(5) The person holding the authorisation is liable for costs arising if the shipment is not completed.

Notices

15.—(1) Schedule 2 makes provision in relation to notices served by an authorised officer of the enforcing authority, and references in that Schedule to an “authorised person” are references to such a person.

(2) Failure to comply with such a notice is an offence.

Powers to give directions

16.  The Secretary of State in England and Wales, Scottish Ministers in Scotland and the Department of the Environment in Northern Ireland may, in relation to any application for an authorisation or consent, give to the competent authority directions as to whether the authorisation or consent is to be granted or refused and, if it is granted, the conditions to which it must be subject, and the competent authority must comply with the direction if this is compatible with these Regulations.

Fees

17.—(1) Section 41(1) of the Environment Act 1995(1) (power to make schemes imposing charges) is amended as follows—

(a) omit the word “and” at the end of paragraph (d);

(b) after paragraph (e), insert—

“(f) as a means of recovering costs incurred by it in performing functions conferred by regulations made for the purposes of implementing Council Directive 2006/117/Euratom on the supervision and control of shipments of radioactive waste and spent fuel (as amended from time to time), each of the new Agencies may require the payment to it of such charges as may from time to time be prescribed;”.

(2) In order to meet any administrative costs incurred by them in determining authorisations and consents under these Regulations the Environment Agency may charge the fee of £1,528 per day, and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency may charge the fee of £891 per day, until a charging scheme under section 41 of the Environment Act 1995 to recover such costs takes effect, or until 1st April 2011, whichever is earlier.

(3) In Northern Ireland, in order to meet any administrative costs incurred in determining authorisations and consents under these Regulations the Chief Inspector may charge the fee of £1,780.

(4) Fees are payable on invoice, by the applicant in the case of an authorisation and by the intended recipient in the case of a consent.

Penalties

18.—(1) A person guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable—

(a) on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both, or

(b) on conviction on indictment, to a fine or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or both.

(2) Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under these Regulations, and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to have been attributable to any neglect on the part of—

(a) any director, manager, secretary or other similar person of the body corporate; or

(b) any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity,

that person is guilty of the offence as well as the body corporate.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (2) above, “director”, in relation to a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of the body corporate.

(4) Where an offence that has been committed by a Scottish partnership is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, a partner, that partner as well as the partnership is guilty of the offence.

Revocation

19.  The Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste Regulations 1993(2) are revoked, subject to the following regulation.

Transitional provisions

20.—(1) Where a duly completed application has been submitted to the relevant competent authorities before 25th December 2008, the Transfrontier Shipment of Radioactive Waste Regulations 1993 apply to all shipment operations covered by that application provided that these are carried out within three years of the authorisation being granted.

(2) When deciding on applications for authorisation submitted before 25th December 2008, for more than one shipment of radioactive waste or spent fuel to a third country of destination, the competent authority must take account of all relevant circumstances, and in particular—

(a) the planned time schedule for carrying out all shipments covered by the same application;

(b) the justification for including all shipments in the same application;

(c) the appropriateness of authorising a number of shipments lower than that covered by the application.

(1)

1995 c. 25.

(2)

SI 1993/3031.