Atomic Energy Authority Act 1971



Atomic Energy AuthorityAct 1971

1971 CHAPTER 11

An Act to provide for the transfer to British Nuclear Fuels Limited and The Radiochemical Centre Limited of parts of the undertaking of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority and of property, rights, liabilities and obligations appertaining to those parts of the Authority's undertaking; to make provision with respect to persons employed by the Authority and engaged in those parts of the Authority's undertaking, with respect to the control and finances of the said companies, and with respect to the application of pension schemes maintained by the Authority; to amend the provisions of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 relating to permits under section 2 of that Act; to make provision relating to factories, offices, building operations and other works on sites in respect of which such permits are in force; to provide for the application of security provisions where such permits are in force and also where companies are designated by the Secretary of State in connection with an agreement relating to the gas centrifuge process for producing enriched uranium; and for purposes connected with those matters.

[16th March 1971]

Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—

Transfer of parts of Authority's undertaking

Transfer of parts of Authority's undertaking

S-1 Transfer of part of Authority's undertaking to Nuclear Fuels Company.

1 Transfer of part of Authority's undertaking to Nuclear Fuels Company.

(1) On the appointed day there shall, by virtue of this Act and without further assurance, be transferred to British Nuclear Fuels Limited (in this Act referred to as ‘the Nuclear Fuels Company’)—

(a ) so much of the undertaking of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (in this Act referred to as ‘the Authority’) as, immediately before that day, is financed out of the Authority's trading fund and is not excepted from this paragraph by subsection (2) of this section;

(b ) all such property, rights, liabilities and obligations as, immediately before the appointed day, are property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the Authority appertaining to that part of the Authority's undertaking which falls within paragraph (a ) of this subsection and are not excepted from this paragraph by or under subsection (2) of this section or section 3, section 5 or section 6 of this Act; and

(c ) all such lands and premises as immediately before the appointed day are the property of the Authority at Springfields in the county of Lancaster or at Windscale in the county of Cumberland and do not fall within paragraph (b ) of this subsection.

(2) There are excepted—

(a ) from paragraph (a ) of the preceding subsection, so much of the undertaking of the Authority as immediately before the appointed day is carried on at the Authority's Radiochemical Centre at Amersham in the county of Buckingham (in this Act referred to as ‘the Radiochemical Centre’), or is carried on at the Authority's establishment at Harwell in the county of Berkshire, and

(b ) from paragraph (b ) of that subsection, all such lands and premises as immediately before that day are occupied for the purposes of the Authority's establishment at Risley in the county of Lancaster (whether any such lands or premises are situated in that county or in the county of Chester).

(3) For the purposes of this and the next following section any part of the Authority's undertaking shall be taken to be financed out of the Authority's trading fund at any time if the expenses of the Authority in carrying on that part of the undertaking are at that time treated in the accounts of the Authority as payable out of that fund.

S-2 Transfer of part of Authority's undertaking to Radiochemical Company.

2 Transfer of part of Authority's undertaking to Radiochemical Company.

(1) On the appointed day there shall, by virtue of this Act and without further assurance, be transferred to The Radiochemical Centre Limited (in this Act referred to as ‘the Radiochemical Company’)—

(a ) so much of the undertaking of the Authority as immediately before that day is financed out of the Authority's trading fund and is carried on at the Radiochemical Centre or at the Authority's establishment at Harwell; and

(b ) all such property, rights, liabilities and obligations as, immediately before that day, are property, rights, liabilities and obligations of the Authority appertaining to that part of the Authority's undertaking which falls within paragraph (a ) of this subsection and are not excepted from this paragraph by or under subsection (2) of this section or section 3, section 5 or section 6 of this Act.

(2) There are excepted from paragraph (b ) of the preceding subsection all lands and premises forming part of the Authority's establishment at Harwell.

S-3 Exclusions from transfers in respect of patents and other industrial property.

3 Exclusions from transfers in respect of patents and other industrial property.

(1) There is excepted from paragraph (b and from paragraph (b of this Act any interest of the Authority in—

(a ) any patent, registered design or registered trade mark, or

(b ) any application for the grant of a patent, or for the registration of a design or of a trade mark, which is pending immediately before the day which is the appointed day for the purposes of section 1 or section 2 of this Act, as the case may be, or

(c ) any invention in respect of which an application for a patent is pending as mentioned in paragraph (b ) of this subsection or which, in pursuance of arrangements made in that behalf by the Authority, is recorded as having been made before the day mentioned in that paragraph.

(2) There are also excepted from paragraph (b ) of section 1(1) and from paragraph (b ) of section 2(1) of this Act—

(a ) any rights, liabilities or obligations of the Authority in respect of any licence to use a patented invention, registered design or registered trade mark, or to use an invention, design or trade mark in respect of which an application for a patent, or for registration of the design or trade mark, is pending, whether any such licence was granted by or to the Authority, including any rights to grant sub-licences under any such licence;

(b ) any rights, liabilities or obligations of the Authority arising under any assignment (whether by or to the Authority) of a patent, registered design or registered trade mark, or of the right to apply for or to obtain any patent or to apply for or to obtain registration of a design or trade mark; and

(c ) any rights, liabilities or obligations of the Authority under any agreement in so far as it provides (whether conditionally or otherwise) for any such licence or sub-licence as is mentioned in paragraph (a ) or any such assignment as is mentioned in paragraph (b ) of this subsection to be granted or made in the future or for the furnishing of information or technical assistance relating to any invention, design or trade mark, whether actual or prospective.

(3) Where by virtue of subsection (1) or subsection (2) of this section any interest, rights, liabilities or obligations are excepted as therein mentioned, the exception shall include the copyright in—

(a ) any literary work consisting of a document by which the interest, rights, liabilities or obligations were conferred or imposed or in which the subject-matter to which they relate is embodied, or

(b ) any artistic work on which that subject-matter was based or from which it was wholly or partly derived.

(4) The Authority shall make available to each of the companies such facilities for, and information relating to, the use of any invention, design or trade mark in respect of which an exception is made by the preceding provisions of this section as may be agreed between the Authority and the company to be requisite for the purposes of the part of the Authority's undertaking transferred to that company by virtue of this Act, or as, in default of such agreement, the Secretary of State may direct as being requisite for those purposes; and any such facilities or information shall be so made available in such manner, and on such terms as to payment or otherwise, as may be agreed between the Authority and the company or as, in default of such agreement, the Secretary of State may direct.

(5) In this section any reference to a patent, or to a registered design or registered trade mark, or to copyright, shall be construed as referring to a patent granted, or a design or trade mark registered, or to copyright subsisting, under the laws of any country or territory outside the United Kingdom as well as to a patent granted, design or trade mark registered, or copyright subsisting, under the laws of the United Kingdom.

S-4 Use of certain lands, premises, apparatus, facilities and services.

4 Use of certain lands, premises, apparatus, facilities and services.

(1) The Nuclear Fuels Company—

(a ) shall secure to the Authority the exclusive occupation and use of the lands and premises transferred by subsection (1) of section 1 of this Act as being lands or premises falling within paragraph (c ) of that subsection, and

(b ) shall make available to the Authority the use of such means of access and other facilities and services as may be agreed between them to be requisite in connection with the occupation and use of those lands and premises or as, in default of such agreement, the Secretary of State may direct as being in his opinion requisite in connection therewith.

(2) The Authority shall secure to the Radiochemical Company the exclusive occupation and use of the lands and premises at Harwell which, immediately before the day which is the appointed day for the...

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