Commentary on Sections Chapter 1: Nuclear Decommissioning Section 19: Designation as a related site for the purpose of section 18
101.Section 19 enables the Secretary of State to designate a contaminated site (see section 36 for the definition) as being related to a principal nuclear site or an installation or facility on such a site – a ‘related site’ (paragraph (a) of subsection (1)). Such a site is then brought within the scope of section 18 and the person with control of the principal nuclear site (or the installation or facility on such a site which caused the contamination) can be subject to directions for the related site as well. By virtue of subsection (2), this can only happen in situations where the contamination, whether radioactive or chemical, has been caused, directly or indirectly, by activities in, or connected to the particular principal nuclear site or the installation or facility on such a site (subsection (4)), which must also be the responsibility of the NDA under a direction. The activity could have taken place before the principal nuclear site was used for nuclear purposes. A number of such sites had previous military or other uses that may be responsible for contamination. As with designations in respect of the NDA’s principal functions (section 3(4)), a direction making a site a related site can only be made where the person with control is a Crown appointee, the UKAEA, a publicly owned company or the NDA, or where the person with control has given consent (paragraph (d) of subsection (2)).