Radioactive Substances Act 1993
Radioactive Substances Act1993
1993 CHAPTER 12
An Act to consolidate certain enactments relating to radioactive substances with corrections and minor improvements made under the Consolidation of Enactments (Procedure) Act 1949.
[27th May 1993]
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:—
Preliminary
1 Meaning of ‘radioactive material’.
(1) In this Act ‘radioactive material’ means anything which, not being waste, is either a substance to which this subsection applies or an article made wholly or partly from, or incorporating, such a substance.
(2) Subsection (1) applies to any substance falling within either or both of the following descriptions, that is to say,—
(a) a substance containing an element specified in the first column of Schedule 1, in such a proportion that the number of becquerels of that element contained in the substance, divided by the number of grams which the substance weighs, is a number greater than that specified in relation to that element in the appropriate column of that Schedule;
(b) a substance possessing radioactivity which is wholly or partly attributable to a process of nuclear fission or other process of subjecting a substance to bombardment by neutrons or to ionising radiations, not being a process occurring in the course of nature, or in consequence of the disposal of radioactive waste, or by way of contamination in the course of the application of a process to some other substance.
(3) In subsection (2)(a) ‘the appropriate column’—
(a) in relation to a solid substance, means the second column,
(b) in relation to a liquid substance, means the third column, and
(c) in relation to a substance which is a gas or vapour, means the fourth column.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (2)(b), a substance shall not be treated as radioactive material if the level of radioactivity is less than such level as may be prescribed for substances of that description.
(5) The Secretary of State may by order vary the provisions of Schedule 1, either by adding further entries to any column of that Schedule or by altering or deleting any entry for the time being contained in any column.
(6) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland, the reference in subsection (5) to the Secretary of State shall have effect as a reference to the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland.
2 Meaning of ‘radioactive waste’.
2. In this Act ‘radioactive waste’ means waste which consists wholly or partly of—
(a) a substance or article which, if it were not waste, would be radioactive material, or
(b) a substance or article which has been contaminated in the course of the production, keeping or use of radioactive material, or by contact with or proximity to other waste falling within paragraph (a) or this paragraph.
3 Meaning of ‘mobile radioactive apparatus’.
3. In this Act ‘mobile radioactive apparatus’ means any apparatus, equipment, appliance or other thing which is radioactive material and—
(a) is constructed or adapted for being transported from place to place, or
(b) is portable and designed or intended to be used for releasing radioactive material into the environment or introducing it into organisms.
Inspectors and chief inspector
4 Inspectors and chief inspector appointed by Secretary of State.
(1) The Secretary of State may appoint as inspectors, to assist him in the execution of this Act, such number of persons appearing to him to be qualified for the purpose as he may from time to time consider necessary or expedient.
(2) For the purposes of this Act the Secretary of State shall—
(a) appoint one of those inspectors to be chief inspector for England and Wales, and
(b) appoint one of them to be chief inspector for Scotland.
(3) A person may be appointed both as an inspector or as chief inspector under this section and as an inspector or as chief inspector under section 16 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 .
(4) The chief inspector may, to any extent, delegate his functions under this Act to any other inspector appointed under this section.
(5) The Secretary of State may make to or in respect of any person appointed by him under this section such payments, by way of remuneration, allowances or otherwise, as he may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.
(6) In England and Wales, an inspector appointed under this section, if authorised to do so by the chief inspector, may, although not of counsel or a solicitor, prosecute before a magistrates' court proceedings for an offence under this Act.
(7) In the application of this section to Northern Ireland—
(a) references to the Secretary of State shall have effect as references to the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland,
(b) the reference in subsection (5) to the Treasury shall have effect as a reference to the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland,
(c) the reference in subsection (3) to section 16 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 shall have effect as a reference to section 10 of the Alkali, &c. Works Regulation Act 1906 ,
(d) subsections (2) and (6) shall not apply;
and the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland shall appoint one of the inspectors appointed by it under subsection (1) to be the chief inspector for Northern Ireland.
5 Appointment of inspectors by Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food.
(1) For the purposes of the execution of this Act in relation to any premises in England which are situated on a nuclear site, the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may appoint as inspectors such number of persons appearing to him to be qualified for the purpose as he may from time to time consider necessary or expedient.
(2) The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food may make to or in respect of any person appointed by him under this section such payments, by way of remuneration, allowances or otherwise, as he may, with the approval of the Treasury, determine.
(3) This section shall have effect in relation to Northern Ireland as it has effect in relation to England, but with the substitution—
(a) for references to the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of references to the Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland, and
(b) for the reference to the Treasury of a reference to the Department of Finance and Personnel in Northern Ireland.
Registration relating to use of radioactive material and mobile radioactive apparatus
6 Prohibition of use of radioactive material without registration.
6. No person shall, on any premises which are used for the purposes of an undertaking carried on by him, keep or use, or cause or permit to be kept or used, radioactive material of any description, knowing or having reasonable grounds for believing it to be radioactive material, unless either—
(a) he is registered under section 7 in respect of those premises and in respect of the keeping and use on those premises of radioactive material of that description, or
(b) he is exempted from registration under that section in respect of those premises and in respect of the keeping and use on those premises of radioactive material of that description, or
(c) the radioactive material in question consists of mobile radioactive apparatus in respect of which a person is registered under section 10 or is exempted from registration under that section.
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