The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019

Made: 26th March 2019

Laid before Parliament: 27th March 2019

Coming into force: 22nd May 2019

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 15(1) and (1B), (2), (3)(a), (4), (5), 18(2)(za), and 43(2) and (4) of, and paragraphs 6, 8(1), 11, 13(2), 14, 15, 16, and 20 of Schedule 3 to, the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 (“the 1974 Act”).

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations independently of any proposals made by the Health and Safety Executive, as provided by section 50(1)(b) of the 1974 Act having consulted, in accordance with section 50(1AA) of that Act, the Executive, the Office for Nuclear Regulation and such other persons as appeared to the Secretary of State to be appropriate.

Citation, commencement and extent

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• (1) These Regulations may be cited as the Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019 and come into force on the 22nd May 2019.

• (2) These Regulations do not extend to Northern Ireland.

Interpretation

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• (1) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “the 2017 Regulations” means the Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 ;

• “the Agency” in relation to premises or a plan relating to premises—in England, means the Environment Agency,in Wales, means Natural Resources Body for Wales, andin Scotland, means the Scottish Environment Protection Agency;

• “approved dosimetry service” means an approved dosimetry service within the meaning of the 2017 Regulations and which is approved for the purpose of regulation 22 of those Regulations;

• “authorised defence site” has the meaning given by regulation 2(1) of the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 ;

• “Category 1 responder” has the meaning set out in Parts 1, 2 and 2A of Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 ;

• “Category 2 responder” has the meaning set out in Parts 3, 4 and 5 of Schedule 1 to the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 ;

• “consequences report” has the meaning set out in regulation 7(1);

• “detailed emergency planning zone” means a zone determined in accordance with regulation 8 and covered by the local authority's off-site emergency plan;

• “dose” means, in relation to ionising radiation, any dose or sum of dose quantities to which an individual is exposed as a result of a radiation emergency;

• “dose assessment” means the dose assessment made and recorded by an approved dosimetry service in accordance with regulation 22 of the 2017 Regulations;

• “dose record” means the record made and maintained in respect of an employee by the approved dosimetry service in accordance with regulation 22 of the 2017 Regulations;

• “emergency exposure” means an exposure of an employee engaged in an activity of or associated with the response to a radiation emergency or potential radiation emergency in order to bring help to endangered persons, prevent exposure of other persons or save a valuable installation or goods, whereby one of the individual dose limits referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Part 1 of Schedule 3 to the 2017 Regulations could be exceeded;

• “emergency services” means—those police, fire and ambulance services who are likely to be required to respond to a radiation emergency which has occurred at the premises of an operator, andwhere appropriate, Her Majesty's Coastguard;

• “emergency worker” means any person who has a defined responding role in an operator's emergency plan or a local authority's off-site emergency plan, and who might be exposed to radiation as a result of a potential or actual radiation emergency;

• “existing exposure situation” means an exposure situation which does not call or no longer calls for the implementation of any protective action from an emergency plan;

• “health authority” means—in relation to England, an integrated care board established under Chapter A3 of Part 2 of the National Health Service Act 2006,in relation to Wales, means a local health board established under section 11 of the National Health Service (Wales) Act 2006 , andin relation to Scotland, a health board established under section 2 of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 1978 ;

• “installation” means a unit in which the radioactive substances present are, or are intended to be, produced, used, handled or stored, and it includes—equipment, structures, pipework, machinery and tools, anddocks, unloading quays, jetties, warehouses or similar structures, whether floating or not;

• “ionising radiation” means the energy transferred in the form of particles or electromagnetic waves of a wavelength of 100 nanometres or less or a frequency of 3 x 10¹⁵ hertz or more capable of producing ions directly or indirectly;

• “licensed site” means a site in respect of which a nuclear site licence has been granted and is in force;

• “local authority” means in relation to—London, the London Fire Commissioner,an area where there is a Metropolitan County Fire and Rescue Authority, that authority,the Isles of Scilly, the Council of the Isles of Scilly,an area in the rest of England, the county council for that area, or, where there is no county council for that area, the district council for that area,an area in Scotland, the council for the local government area, andan area in Wales, the county council or the county borough council for that area;

• “medical surveillance” means medical surveillance carried out in accordance with the 2017 Regulations;

• “new nuclear build site” has the meaning given by regulation 2A of the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 ;

• “non-dispersible source” means a sealed source or a radioactive substance which, in either case, it is determined that, by virtue of its physical and chemical form, it cannot cause a radiation emergency but does not include any radioactive substance that is or has been a component of a nuclear reactor;

• “nuclear site licence” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1(1) of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 ;

• “nuclear warship site” has the meaning given by regulation 2B of the Health and Safety (Enforcing Authority) Regulations 1998 ;

• “off-site emergency plan” is to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 11;

• “operator” has the meaning set out in paragraph (2);

• “operator's emergency plan” are to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 10;

• “outline planning zone” means a zone determined in accordance with regulation 9 and covered by the local authority's off-site emergency plan;

• “premises” means—the whole of an area under the control of an operator where radioactive substances are present in one or more installations, and for this purpose two or more areas under the control of the operator and separated only by a road, railway or inland waterway shall be treated as one whole area, orwhere radioactive substances are present on a licensed site, that licensed site, orwhere a radioactive substance forms an integral part of a vessel and is used in connection with the operation of that vessel, includes when that vessel is at fixed point moorings or alongside berths, save that such a vessel is to be deemed separate premises only where such moorings or berths do not form part of a licensed site or part of premises under the control of the Secretary of State for Defence;

• “protective action” means an action or actions taken in order to prevent or reduce the exposure of emergency workers, members of the public, the environment or the contamination of property from ionising radiation in the event of a radiation emergency, and includes the provision of appropriate information to the public in accordance with regulations 21 and 22;

• “radiation emergency” means a non-routine situation or event arising from work with ionising radiation that necessitates prompt action to mitigate the serious consequences—of a hazard resulting from that situation or event;of a perceived risk arising from such a hazard; orto any one or more of—human life;health and safety;quality of life;property;the environment;

• “radiation protection adviser” means a radiation protection adviser within the meaning of the 2017 Regulations and who is recognised as such for the purpose of regulation 14 of those Regulations;

• “radioactive substance” means any substance which contains one or more radionuclides whose activity cannot be disregarded for the purposes of radiation protection;

• “reference level” is to be interpreted in accordance with regulation 20;

• “regulator” means—the Health and Safety Executive; orthe Office for Nuclear Regulation in the event the premises is—a licensed site;an authorised defence site;a new nuclear build site; ora nuclear warship site;but in the event that an agreement has been reached between the Health and Safety Executive and the Office for Nuclear Regulation to transfer responsibility in respect of specific premises, the person to whom that responsibility was transferred;

• “sealed source” means a source containing any radioactive substance whose structure is such as to prevent dispersion of radioactive substances into the environment;

• “work with ionising radiation” means work involving the production, processing, handling, use, holding, storage or disposal of radioactive substances which can increase the exposure of persons to radiation from an artificial source, or from a radioactive substance containing naturally occurring radionuclides which are processed for their radioactive, fissile or fertile properties.

• (2) In these Regulations, any reference to an operator is a reference to—

• (a) in relation to any premises other than a licensed site, the person who is, in the course of a trade or business or other undertaking carried on by that person, in control of the operation of premises, and

• (b) in relation to a licensed site, a person to whom a nuclear site licence has been granted,

and any duty imposed by these Regulations on the operator extends only in relation to those premises.

• (3) In these Regulations—

• (a) any reference to an effective dose means the sum of the effective dose to the whole body from external ionising radiation and the committed effective dose from internal ionising radiation; and

• (b) any reference to equivalent dose to a human tissue or organ includes the committed equivalent dose to that tissue or organ from internal ionising radiation.

• (4) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, any reference to—

• (a) an employer includes a reference to a self-employed person and any duty imposed by these Regulations on an employer in respect of its employee extends to a self-employed person in respect of that self-employed person,

• (b) exposure to ionising radiation is a reference to exposure to ionising radiation arising from work with ionising radiation.

• (5) In these Regulations, references to “local authority”, unless the context otherwise requires, are to the local authority in which the premises are situated, and references to “lead local authority”, where more than one local authority is involved, are to that local authority.

Application

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• (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) and (5) and with the exception of regulation 22, these Regulations apply to any work with ionising radiation which involves having on any premises, or providing for there to be on any premises, a radioactive substance containing more than the quantity specified in relation to that radionuclide in Schedule 1 or, in the case of fissile material, more than the mass of that material specified in Schedule 2.

• (2) These Regulations do not apply to work falling within paragraph (1) where the operator can demonstrate that the quantity present on the premises would not allow, in a radiation emergency situation, an annual effective dose to persons off-site of greater than 1 mSv.

• (3) Where a radionuclide is not specified in Schedule 1—

• (a) an operator must carry out an assessment to determine whether the quantity present on the premises allows an annual effective dose greater than that specified in paragraph (2); and

• (b) if that assessment demonstrates that an annual effective dose greater than that specified in paragraph (2) is allowable, then these Regulations apply.

• (4) For the purposes of paragraph (1), a quantity specified in Schedule 1 is to be treated as being exceeded if—

• (a) where only one radionuclide is involved, the quantity of that radionuclide exceeds the quantity specified in the appropriate entry in Part 1 of Schedule 1; or

• (b) where more than one radionuclide is involved, the quantity ratio calculated in accordance with Part 2 of Schedule 1 exceeds one.

• (5) These Regulations do not apply in respect of—

• (a) any non-dispersible source;

• (b) any radioactive substance which has an activity concentration of not more than 100Bqg⁻¹;

• (c) any radioactive substance conforming to the specifications for special form radioactive material set out in sub-section 2.7.2.3.3. of the UN Model Recommendations on the Transport of Dangerous Goods: Model Regulations (“UN Model Regulations”) , as revised or reissued from time to time;

• (d) any radioactive substance which is in a package which complies with the requirements for a Type B(U) package, a Type B(M) package or a Type C package as set out in subsections 6.4.8, 6.4.9 or 6.4.10 of the UN Model Regulations respectively.

Hazard evaluation

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• (1) The operator of any premises to which these Regulations apply must make a written evaluation before any work with ionising radiation is carried out for the first time at those premises.

• (2) The evaluation required under paragraph (1) must be sufficient to identify all hazards arising from the work undertaken which have the potential to cause a radiation emergency.

• (3) Where the evaluation required under paragraph (1) does not reveal any hazards having the potential to cause a radiation emergency, reasons for such a conclusion should be set out in that evaluation.

• (4) Where the evaluation required under paragraph (1) does reveal the potential for a radiation emergency to occur, the operator must take all reasonably practicable steps to—

• (a) prevent the occurrence of a radiation emergency; and

• (b) limit the consequences of any such emergency which does occur.

• (5) The evaluation required by paragraph (1) also applies to the continuation of any work with ionising radiation carried out by an operator after the coming into force of these Regulations.

• (6) The requirements of this regulation are without prejudice to the requirements of regulation 3 (risk assessment) of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and to regulation 8 of the 2017 Regulations.

• (7) The operator must provide the regulator with details of the evaluation made under paragraph (1) within 28 days of the date on which it is made.

Consequence assessment

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• (1) Where the evaluation undertaken under regulation 4 reveals the potential for a radiation emergency to occur, the operator must make an assessment, in accordance with Schedule 3, to consider and evaluate a full range of possible consequences of the identified radiation emergencies, both on the premises and outside the premises, including the geographical extent of those consequences and any variable factors which have the potential to affect the severity of those consequences.

• (2) The assessment required by this regulation must be completed within two months after the day on which the hazard evaluation required by regulation 4 is completed.

Review of hazard evaluation and consequence assessment

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• (1) Where the operator proposes a material change, or where a material change occurs, in the work with ionising radiation to which an operator was required to make an evaluation pursuant to regulation 4(1), the operator must make a further assessment to take account of that change.

• (2) For such time as the work with ionising radiation in respect of which an evaluation made pursuant to regulation 4(1) continues, the operator must, within 3 years of the date of the completion of the last evaluation (whether made in accordance with regulation 4(1) or this paragraph), or longer, if agreed by the regulator, either—

• (a) make a further evaluation; or

• (b) if there is no change of circumstances which would affect the last consequences report required by regulation 7, make a declaration to that effect.

• (3) Where a declaration is made in accordance with paragraph (2)(b), a copy of that declaration must be provided to the local authority, and to the regulator, within 28 days of the making of the declaration.

• (4) The further evaluation required by this regulation must comply with the provisions of regulation 4(2) to (4), and regulation 5, where applicable.

Consequences report

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• (1) Where the operator has made an assessment pursuant to regulation 5(1) or a review in accordance with regulation 6(1) or 6(2), unless regulation 6(2)(b) applies, the operator must prepare a report setting out the consequences identified by that assessment, called a consequences report, as soon as reasonably practicable on completion of the assessment.

• (2) The operator must send the consequences report to the local authority—

• (a) before the start of any of the work with ionising radiation to which the assessment relates; or

• (b) where the report is as the result of a review in accordance with regulation 6, as soon as practicable after completion of the report.

• (3) A consequences report must include the particulars set out in Schedule 4.

• (4) Following receipt of the consequences report by the local authority, the operator must, within a reasonable period of time, offer a meeting to the local authority to discuss the consequences report.