The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016

SECTION 1 E+W General

Interpretation E+W

1.  In this Part—

“Ba-137m eluting source” means a source which consists of Cs-137 in a sealed container which is designed and constructed to allow the elution of Ba-137m, and which is radioactive material or radioactive waste solely because of that Cs-137;

“Class A gaseous tritium light device” means a gaseous tritium light device where the activity of the device does not exceed 2 x 10¹⁰ Bq of tritium;

“Class B gaseous tritium light device” means a gaseous tritium light device which is installed or intended to be installed on premises and where the activity—

(a)

in each sealed container in the device does not exceed 8 x 10¹⁰ Bq of tritium, and

(b)

of the device does not exceed 1 x 10¹² Bq of tritium;

“Class C gaseous tritium light device” means a gaseous tritium light device installed or intended to be installed—

(a)

in a vessel or aircraft, or

(b)

in a vehicle or other equipment used or intended to be used by the armed forces of the Crown;

“disposal permit” means—

(a)

an environmental permit to carry on the radioactive substances activity described in paragraph 11(2)(b) of Part 2 of this Schedule, or

(b)

an authorisation under the 1993 Act to dispose of radioactive waste held in respect of premises situated in Northern Ireland or Scotland;

“electrodeposited source” means an article where radionuclides are electrodeposited onto a metal substrate and which is radioactive material or radioactive waste solely because it contains Ni-63 or Fe-55;

“gaseous tritium light device” means a sealed source in a device which is an illuminant, instrument, sign or indicator which—

(a)

incorporates tritium in one or more sealed containers constructed to prevent dispersion of that tritium in normal use, and

(b)

is radioactive material solely because it contains that tritium;

[F1 “high-activity or similar source” means—

(a)

a high-activity source, or

(b)

such other sealed source which, in the opinion of the regulator, is of a similar level of potential hazard to a high-activity source;

“high-activity source” means a sealed source for which the activity of the contained radionuclide is equal to or exceeds the relevant activity value laid down in Annex III of the Basic Safety Standards Directive;]

“luminised article” means an article which is made wholly or partly from a luminescent substance in the form of a film or a paint and which—

(a)

is radioactive material or radioactive waste solely because it contains Pm-147 or H-3, and

(b)

is not a sealed source;

“management”, in respect of waste, means—

(a)

the preparation by checking, cleaning or repairing that waste for its re-use without further processing,

(b)

the recovery of that waste,

(c)

the disposal of that waste, or

(d)

the application of any treatment process to that waste which is preparatory to the recovery or disposal of it,

and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

“relevant river” means a river or a part of a river which—

(a)

is not a part of the sea, and

(b)

at the place and time of any disposal into it of aqueous radioactive waste from a sewage disposal works or directly from premises, has a flow-rate which is not less than 1m³s^-1;

“relevant sewer” means—

(a)

a public sewer, or

(b)

a disposal main which leads to a sewage disposal works that—

(i)

has the capacity to handle a minimum of 100m³ of effluent per day, and

(ii)

discharges treated effluent only to the sea or to a relevant river,

and “public sewer”, “disposal main”, “sewage disposal works” and “effluent” have the same meaning as in the Water Industry Act 1991 M1 ;

“relevant standard conditions” has the meaning given in paragraph 10;

“sea” includes any area submerged at mean high water springs and also includes, so far as the tide flows at mean high water springs, an estuary or arm of the sea and the waters of any channel, creek, bay or river;

[F2 “sealed source” has the same meaning as in the Basic Safety Standards Directive, excluding such a source where it is an electrodeposited source or a tritium foil source;]

“stored in transit” means the storage in the course of transit of radioactive material or radioactive waste but does not include any storage of such material or waste where it is removed from its container;

“Table 4”, [F3 “Table 4A”,] “Table 5”, “Table 6”, “Table 7” or “Table 8” means the table with that number in this Part;

“a tritium foil source” means an article which—

(a)

has a mechanically tough surface into which tritium is incorporated, and

(b)

is radioactive material or radioactive waste solely because of that tritium;

“uranium or thorium compound” means a substance or article which is radioactive material or radioactive waste solely because it is or contains metallic uranium or thorium or prepared compounds of uranium or thorium, and in respect of which metal or compound the proportion of—

(a)

U-235 in the uranium it contains is no more than 0.72% by mass, and

(b)

any isotope of thorium it contains is present in the isotopic proportions found in nature;

“waste permitted person” means, in relation to the radioactive waste where the term appears, a person who holds—

(a)

an environmental permit to carry on the radioactive substances activity described in paragraph 11(2)(b) or (c) of Part 2 of this Schedule, or

(b)

in respect of premises in Scotland or Northern Ireland, an authorisation under section 13 or 14 of the 1993 Act;

“week” means any period of 7 consecutive days;

“year” means a calendar year.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in Sch. 23 Pt. 6 para. 1 inserted (2.5.2018) by The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/428), reg. 1, Sch. para. 22(a)

F2 Words in Sch. 23 Pt. 6 para. 1 substituted (2.5.2018) by The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/428), reg. 1, Sch. para. 22(b)

F3 Words in Sch. 23 Pt. 6 para. 1 inserted (2.5.2018) by The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/428), reg. 1, Sch. para. 22(c)

Marginal Citations

M1 1991 c. 56; the definition of “public sewer” was amended by section 99(6) of the Water Act 2003 (c. 37).

Interpretation: NORM E+W

[F4 2.— (1) In this Part “NORM waste” means a substance or article which—

(a) is solid radioactive waste under—

(i) paragraph 4 of Part 2 of this Schedule (NORM industrial activities); or

(ii) paragraph 5 of that Part (processed radionuclides of natural terrestrial or cosmic origin) where the waste arises from the remediation of land contaminated by radium and the contamination occurred prior to 13 May 2000;

(b) contains one or more of the radionuclides which are listed in column 1 of Table 4A;

(c) has a concentration of radioactivity that does not exceed the value specified in column 5 of Table 4A in respect of that radionuclide; and

(d) is not waste to which sub-paragraph (3) applies.

(2) In this Part—

“type 1 NORM waste” means NORM waste which—

(a)

has a concentration of radioactivity that does not exceed the value specified in column 2 of Table 4A; and

(b)

is not waste to which sub-paragraph (4) applies;

“type 2 NORM waste” means NORM waste which has a concentration of radioactivity that exceeds the value specified in column 2 of Table 4A.

(3) This sub-paragraph applies to waste where, prior to the disposal of that waste, a person has diluted it with the intention of ensuring that the concentration of radioactivity does not exceed the value specified in column 5 of Table 4A.

(4) This sub-paragraph applies to waste where, prior to the disposal of that waste, a person has diluted it with the intention of ensuring that the concentration of radioactivity does not exceed the value specified in column 2 of Table 4A.]

Textual Amendments

F4 Sch. 23 Pt. 6 para. 2 substituted (2.5.2018) by The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/428), reg. 1, Sch. para. 23