Commentary on Sections Chapter 1: Nuclear Decommissioning Section 36: Meaning of “nuclear site” etc and “person with control”
147.Section 36 defines key concepts for the designation and control of sites, installations and facilities. Subsection (2) defines the two types of nuclear site which are the basis in section 3(1)(c) for the NDA’s responsibilities for clean up: principal nuclear sites and contaminated sites. The powers of the NDA and the duties on the persons with control of sites depend on their categorisation. The principal differences are in the application of sections 17 and 18 which only apply in relation to principal nuclear sites or facilities thereon. Subsection (3) defines the person with control of an installation, site or facility in a range of specific cases.
148.A “principal nuclear site” includes sites licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (c.57); sites which would require a licence were the licensing requirements to apply to the Crown; non-licensed sites on which there is situated a facility for which the NDA has responsibility; sites where there are nuclear fusion research installations (the only existing one is the UKAEA site at Culham); and sites which are still contaminated as a result of nuclear activities (defined in subsection (5)) carried out on the site during or before the time when it fell within one of the preceding classes of site which could include for example, old military ordnance.
149.Contaminated sites can either have been contaminated as a result of a range of activities in, on, or related to a nuclear installation, principal nuclear site or NDA facilities (subsection (5)) or are the location of hazardous material. The contamination can be either radioactive or chemical in nature. This means that the NDA can potentially take responsibility for sites which are not principal nuclear sites but which have been contaminated from a range of sources connected with the nuclear industry. An example would be where pipe‑lines discharging radioactive waste have leaked onto adjoining land.
150.There is a third category of site, a “related site”, which is a particular type of contaminated site. This is dealt with separately in section 19.