• Home
• Introduction
• Site Setting
• Geology and Hydrogeology
• Investigations to date
• Current Understanding
  of the Site
• Strategy and Planning
• Regulatory Requirements
• Management Activities
  • Safety case
  • Best Practicable Means (BPM) Assessment
  • Groundwater Monitoring
  • Leak Detection
  • Site Procedures to Excavate and to Dispose of Soil
  • Phase 2 of the Sellafield Contaminated Land Management Programme
  • Data Information Management
  • External Stakeholders
• Supporting Information

Home > Regulatory Requirements

A summary of the regulatory regime for contaminated land on nuclear licensed sites is given on the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network Website (SAFEGROUNDS Website). Nuclear Licensed Sites are regulated by the Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII) which is part of the HSE (HSE Nuclear Website) and The Environment Agency (EA) (EA Nuclear Industry website). Under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (NIA65) the NII is responsible for regulating operations on a nuclear licensed site. It does this by granting licenses to the operators of the sites. It is able to attach conditions to the licenses which it considers necessary or desirable in the interests of safety. In addition the NII may attach such conditions as it sees fit to the handling and treatment and disposal of nuclear matter. The NII regards radioactively contaminated land and emplaced radioactive substances on nuclear licensed sites as accumulations of nuclear matter, unless they are, or arise from, authorised disposals, and it requires licensees to manage it as such (HSE Management of Radioactive Materials and Radioactive Waste on Nuclear Licensed Sites). The License Conditions require that licensees control or contain nuclear matter, to record the amount of radioactive material and its location, and justify and demonstrate the arrangements to maintain safety by means of a safety case.

Safety Assessment Principles (SAPs) for managing radioactively contaminated land on nuclear facilities are published on the HSE Nuclear Website and have requirements for strategy, characterisation, control and remediation, record keeping, safety cases and redevelopment. They define "radioactively contaminated land" as "land containing radioactive contamination that would preclude HSE giving notice in writing that in its opinion there ceases/has ceased to be any danger from ionising radiations on the site, or part of the site". The criterion for delicensing is that the risk of death to an individual should not be more than one in a million per year. The overarching requirements of the Health and Safety at Work Act to reduce risks to "as low as reasonably practicable" (ALARP) also apply but if risks are below one in a million per year, licensees are only expected to show that there are no other, inexpensive clean-up activities that could be carried out.

The EA is responsible for regulating, under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 (RSA93), disposals of all forms of radioactive wastes on nuclear sites. The Agency’s Guidance on the Characterisation and Remediation of Radioactively Contaminated Land (EA Guidance on Radioactively Contaminated Land) states the elements required to manage areas of Contaminated Land which are similar to those outlined in the NII guidance.

In January 2004, the EA issued a position statement on contaminated land and groundwater at Sellafield.  This document concluded with listing the EA’s ten key regulatory objectives with respect to contaminated land and groundwater at Sellafield:  1. A Site policy with the goal of early cleanup of ground contamination and groundwater, avoiding and minimising future ground and groundwater contamination spread. 2. The Site should develop groundwater protection principles and a groundwater protection strategy consistent with over-arching environmental protection principles and a Site integrated waste strategy. 3. Remediation options appraisals for each significant source (carried out according to a prioritised programme) that includes consideration of the actual and potential risks. Risks here include those of significant dose to man, environmental harm, contamination of groundwater, or migration of contamination, which would make future remediation more difficult or costly. The Agency considers that options should include interim hydraulic isolation or groundwater treatment consistent with the site’s integrated waste management strategy and plan. 4. Development of Site targets to: a) reduce the sources and b) to reduce the level of groundwater contamination. 5. A validated and verified conceptual model that includes a   geological/hydro-geological and contaminant model with detailed development of source term understanding. 6. A mature quality assured groundwater monitoring programme underpinned by clear monitoring strategy objectives. 7. A detailed radiological and environmental risk assessment of  the  individual and combined actual and potential source terms for current and future generations. 8. A detailed knowledge of the rate of leakage of radioactive waste to environmental receptors (to groundwater, to the atmosphere by aerial re-suspension and to rivers and the sea via groundwater discharge) from individual source terms and hence the rate of generation of secondary radioactive waste. 9. A developed communication strategy and plan, which facilitates early, open and transparent operator dialogue with appropriate stakeholders regarding these contaminated land and groundwater legacies. Recognition of the hazard and environmental risk of this legacy within a prioritised site restoration programme to implement the recognised best options. 10. A public annual report to stakeholders detailing progress with the above.

These site-specific regulatory objectives, as well as actions to address the licence obligations, are being addressed under three broad categories.

Technical
Progressing with the Sellafield Contaminated Land & Groundwater Management Project and developing suitable conceptual models for the Site (5); assessing the impact of the contaminated land and groundwater on human and environmental receptors (7, 8); developing management options for the each significant contaminant source (3) and implementing a groundwater monitoring programme underpinned by clear objectives (6).

Policy
Setting out the principles for the protection of groundwater at the Site (2); developing policy with the objective of cleaning up ground contamination and groundwater on an early timescale (1) and developing targets for reducing the amount of contaminated land and the level of groundwater contamination (4).

Communications
Engaging with stakeholders regarding the management of contaminated land and groundwater (9) and producing annual reports describing the progress of the programme (10).