Radioactive Waste meaning

The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016), SI 2016/1154 EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154 is the primary framework for environmental permitting and compliance, applying across diverse activities and industries. All offences taking place on or after 1 January 2017 are prosecuted under EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154. For information on environmental permitting generally, see: Environmental permits and exemptions—overview. For offences under EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154, the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) may use a range of sanctions. The Regulations establish offences relating to: waste water quality groundwater radioactive substances Waste operations charges can be brought under EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154, or the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA 1990). Offences linked to water discharge activities or groundwater activities are commonly enforced through EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154, reg 38(1)(a), in respect of a breach of regulation 12(1)(b). See Practice Notes: Unauthorised or harmful deposit, treatment or disposal of waste and Environmental Permitting Regulations 2016—enforcement, offences and civil...

Does a seller need to disclose land contamination to a buyer? If the seller knows the land is contaminated, there is no obligation to reveal this to a purchaser; the principle of ‘buyer beware’ applies. However, when responding to CPSE enquiries, the seller must avoid any misleading statements. 16.4 Please provide (so far as the Seller is aware) details of: (a) historic and current uses of the Property and activities undertaken there; and (b) whether any hazardous substances, or contaminative or potentially contaminative materials, are in, on or beneath the Property, including asbestos or asbestos-containing materials, any known waste deposits, present or former storage areas for hazardous or radioactive substances, existing or previous storage tanks (above or below ground), and any parts of the Property that are or were landfill. A seller will typically seek the benefit of the ‘sold with information’ statutory exclusion and authorise the buyer to carry out its own site investigations. A typical response would be: ‘the buyer may undertake its own investigations...

In this issue: COP29 Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy efficiency of products Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers New Q&As COP29 Looking ahead to COP29 The 2024 United Nations Climate Change Conference—COP29—will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan, from 11 to 29 November 2024. Paul Collins, a senior associate at Ashfords LLP, shares insight on the conference’s objectives and anticipated outcomes. See News Analysis: Looking ahead to COP29. UK government announces new climate change goals at COP29 At COP29 in Baku, the UK government set fresh climate objectives, pledging an 81% cut in emissions by 2035 against 1990 baselines. In line with the Climate Change Committee’s advice and the UK’s sixth carbon budget, this will constitute the...

In this issue: Key developments Air emissions and climate change Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental taxes, reliefs and incentives ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Key developments Defra publishes response to OEP report on England environmental improvement plan progress Defra has issued a policy paper replying to the Office for Environmental Protection’s January 2025 progress review, ‘Progress in improving the natural environment in England 2023 to 2024’. That OEP report evaluated how far the government has advanced towards Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) targets set under the Environment Act 2021 (EA 2021). See: LNB News 22/10/2025 36. Air emissions and climate change GAD initiates Cross-Government Climate Ready Estates Network The Government Actuary’s Department (GAD) has launched the Cross-Government Climate Ready Estates Network (CCREN) to tackle...

In this issue: Air emissions and climate change Energy efficiency and buildings Energy for environmental lawyers Environmental assessment Environmental disputes and proceedings Environmental enforcement and prosecutions Environmental information ESG and sustainability Hazardous substances and chemicals Marine Nature, biodiversity and habitat conservation Waste Waste producer responsibility regimes Water, flooding and drainage Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Trackers Useful information Air emissions and climate change Carbon Budget Plan judicial review succeeds (R (Friends of the Earth and others) v Secretary of State for Energy Security & Net Zero) This claim concerns the government’s obligations under the Climate Change Act 2008 (CCA 2008). Central to it is the Secretary of State’s duty to formulate and lay before Parliament proposals and policies which, in his judgement, ‘will enable the carbon budgets’ to be met (CCA 2008, s 13(1)). The judicial review challenged the Carbon Budget Delivery...

Scope of this Practice Note This Practice Note sets out the main types of radioactive waste and examines disposal against the EU-defined waste hierarchy. It places contemporary management of radioactive waste within the historical development of the nuclear industry from a planning standpoint. Principal policy documents are reviewed to chart the evolution of government thinking over time. Geological disposal of Higher Activity Waste (HAW) under the Planning Act 2008 (PA 2008) is compared with alternative disposal routes under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (TCPA 1990) and the Planning (Wales) Act 2015. Consultation duties, application processes and required consents are identified for both regimes. Notable planning appeals and judicial review cases are highlighted before looking at international approaches to radioactive waste. What is radioactive waste? In the UK, radioactive waste arises—and will arise—from past, current and future programmes for electricity generation from nuclear fission, the reprocessing of nuclear fuel, the development of nuclear weapons, the nuclear submarine fleet and wastes from radioactive materials used for civil...

Introduction Environmental permitting is among the principal environmental regulatory frameworks in the UK. Its purpose is to oversee and limit pollution and emissions into the environment arising from industrial and other operations across the UK. It forms a central strand of UK business regulation, created to manage and oversee activities that could pollute the environment or pose risks to human health. Permits place a suite of conditions on the design and build, running and, in due course, closure of a regulated installation, as well as stipulating how regulated activities are undertaken. The main regulators are the Environment Agency (EA) in England, Natural Resources Body for Wales (NRW), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA). Local authorities likewise regulate the less polluting processes and sites. The lead government departments/bodies (the appropriate authorities) are the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) for England together with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (the Secretary of State); Welsh Ministers; Scottish Ministers;...

History of environmental permitting From 6 April 2008, these regulatory frameworks have been absorbed into the current environmental permitting system: the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive 2008/1/EC and the Industrial Emissions Directive 2010/75/EC waste management licensing the Mining Waste Directive 2006/21/EC permitting elements of the Batteries Directive 2006/66/EC water discharge consents and flood defence consents formerly handled under the Water Resources Act 1991 the groundwater permitting regime previously covered by the Groundwater (England and Wales) Regulations 2009, SI 2009/2902 control of radioactive substances, previously under the Radioactive Substances Act 1993 solvent emissions, previously governed by various directives including the Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive 2008/1/EC, the Waste Incineration Directive 2000/76/EC, and the Solvent Emissions Directive 1999/13/EC The Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016 (EPR 2016), SI 2016/1154 took effect on 1 January 2017. EPR 2016, SI 2016/1154 consolidated and revoked the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 (EPR 2010), SI 2010/675, which...