Policy background Part 14: Civil Nuclear Sector Licensing a Geological Disposal Facility Beneath the Seabed
A Geological Disposal Facility (GDF) is a highly engineered facility capable of isolating radioactive waste within multiple protective barriers, deep underground, so that no harmful quantities of radioactivity ever reach the surface.
	In its 2018 policy paper, Implementing geological disposal – working with communities: An updated framework for the long-term management of higher activity radioactive waste 31 the Government reiterated its commitment to geological disposal as the best means to manage the most hazardous radioactive waste for the long term. In the same policy document, the Government also reiterated that a GDF would be a nuclear installation under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and would therefore require a licence from the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR).
	The process to find a location for a GDF is underway and there is interest from communities in locating a GDF off the coast deep below the seabed. The measure in the Act makes clear that certain nuclear sites, located wholly or partly in or under the sea (within the boundaries of the territorial sea adjacent to the UK) are required to be licensed and made subject to regulatory oversight by the ONR in Great Britain and by the Secretary of State in Northern Ireland. As the ONR’s powers in relation to nuclear sites are principally set out in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and the Energy Act 2013 (EA 2013), amendments to both of these Acts are required. While the policy driver for this change is to ensure a GDF beneath the seabed is licensable, the legislative changes cover other nuclear sites located wholly or partly in or under the territorial sea adjacent to the UK.
	In due course, using an existing delegated power in the Nuclear Installations Act 1965, a statutory instrument will be brought forward to make a GDF (whether located beneath the seabed or otherwise) a prescribed installation that requires a licence, and as such, subject to ONR regulation.