MEBs meaning

A Multi-Element Bottle (MEB) is a stainless-steel underwater container used at Sellafield’s THORP storage ponds to hold multiple light‑water reactor spent fuel assemblies, providing shielding, cooling and safe handling before reprocessing, transfer or further storage. The term is not defined in legislation; it is an industry description appearing in site safety cases, operating procedures and contracts. In legal practice, MEB design, use and inspection are governed by the nuclear site licence under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and relevant ONR licence conditions (including safety, operations and criticality control), together with environmental permits for radioactive substances (EPR 2016 in England and Wales, EASR 2018 in Scotland, and RSA 1993 in Northern Ireland) and applicable nuclear security and safeguards requirements. MEBs are storage devices, not transport packages, though transaction and transport documents may refer to their contents. Usage and regulatory approach are broadly consistent across England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland via the ONR and the relevant environmental regulators. In Ireland, which has no nuclear power stations, the term is encountered mainly in cross‑border nuclear law, emergency planning and contractual documentation. Practically, MEBs feature in licence documentation, safety submissions, decommissioning strategies and commercial terms allocating liability and compliance risks for spent fuel storage.