Guidance on Requirements for Release of Nuclear Sites from Radioactive Substances Regulation

Overview

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW), together referred to as “the environment agencies”, are consulting on our proposed new guidance on “Requirements for Release of Nuclear Sites from Radioactive Substances Regulation”.

This consultation is being managed by SEPA on behalf of all three environment agencies. 

This formal consultation will remain open for 12 weeks, until 9th May 2016.

What are we consulting on?

The environment agencies are consulting on our proposed new guidance:

“Guidance on Requirements for Release of Nuclear Sites from

Radioactive Substances Regulation; Consultation Document

February 2016.”

[please click on the title to download our consultation document as a PDF]

We have produced this document to fill an important gap in our current suite of guidance for nuclear sites. Many nuclear sites throughout Great Britain are now being decommissioned. Their operators need guidance on the environment agencies’ standards for the clean-up of decommissioning sites, so that they can be released from our regulatory regime for radioactive substances in a timely and proportionate manner.

Why are we consulting?

We are seeking views from all stakeholders on our proposed new guidance, to ensure that it adequately specifies and explains what nuclear site operators need to do to meet our regulatory requirements when planning and carrying out work in preparation for release of their sites from radioactive substances regulation.

What will we do after the consultation?

After this 12-week formal consultation has closed we will review and report on the comments we have received.  We will consider how to act upon those comments in revising the consultation document.

The consultation document will remain available for a period of trial use and comment, primarily so that practitioners such as nuclear site operators and regulatory officers can put the proposed guidance to the test, and provide us with further suggestions for its improvement.

Publishing the final guidance

In England, the final guidance will be subject to the DEFRA Smarter Guidance project. This means that the guidance in England is likely to be separate from that in Scotland and Wales, and substantially different in style, format and wording from the current consultation document in order to comply with Smarter Guidance requirements. The Environment Agency is therefore consulting on the basis that the proposed approach to surrender and the standards for surrender (the principles and requirements described in the consultation document) will form the substantive content of future guidance. The Environment Agency is not consulting on the basis that the consultation document is a draft form of the eventual guidance in England.

Although the fine detail of radioactive substances policy, legislation and guidance may differ between Scotland, Wales and England, the environment agencies intend to promote and maintain common standards throughout Great Britain for the decommissioning and clean-up of nuclear sites to achieve release from radioactive substances regulation. 

What happens next

The 3-month formal consultation closed on 9th May 2016.  We would like to thank all those who responded.

We will shortly publish a summary of the consultation responses.

We are now considering how to act upon these responses in revising the consultation document.