Nuclear Archives - The Compliance People

Jurisdiction: United Kingdom

Commencement: 10^th September 2024

Amends: Energy Act 2023
Mini Summary

The Energy Act 2023 sets out that organisations must have a licence to transport hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide through a pipeline, and dispose of carbon dioxide via geological storage.

Duties

Various duties apply and are available to view in full on the Legislation Update Service.

Amendment

The following sections come into force on 10th September 2024.

Section 156, amending the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 to exclude fusion energy facilities from the nuclear site licencing requirements.

The following sections, making up the majority of Part 6, which allow for the governance of gas and electricity industry codes. This includes requirements for licencing and the selection of code managers when managing industry codes in the electricity and gas sectors:

Section 209, allowing the Secretary of State to make additional legislation relating to multi-purpose interconnectors.

Section 302, amending the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 and the Energy Act 2013 to clarify that nuclear sites located (entirely or partially) in or under the sea still require a licence and are regulated by the Office for Nuclear Regulation.

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Jurisdiction: Great Britain / United Kingdom

Commencement: 1^st February 2024

Amends:

The Health and Safety and Nuclear (Fees) Regulations 2022
Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996

Mini Summary

The Health and Safety and Nuclear (Fees) Regulations 2022 enable the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to charge fees to recover their costs where it finds an organisation in material breach of health and safety regulations.

The Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996 apply to the conveyance of natural gas (methane) through pipes to domestic and other consumers. They cover the safe management of gas flow through a network, arrangements for dealing with supply emergencies, arrangements for dealing with gas incidents and gas composition.

Duties
Various duties apply.

Amendment

The Health and Safety and Nuclear (Fees) Regulations 2022

Fixed fees, enabling full cost recovery, are updated for the following areas:

ionising radiation;
explosives, including acetylene safety and dangerous goods in harbour areas;
onshore oil, gas and geothermal well and borehole operations;
pipelines conveying fluid; and
onshore and offshore wind or marine energy installations.

The full list of changes to fees can be found in the Schedule.

Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996

A minor technical change is made to correct a date error in The Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996.

There are no changes to duties for organisations.

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Jurisdiction: United Kingdom

Commencement: 30^th January 2024

Amends: Energy Act 2023 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2024
Mini Summary

The Energy Act 2023 sets out that Organisations must have a licence to transport hydrogen gas and carbon dioxide through a pipeline, and dispose of carbon dioxide via geological storage*.

*Geological storage is the injection of captured carbon dioxide into rock to remove it from the atmosphere.

It aims to promote sustainable development and help the United Kingdom achieve net-zero emissions** targets.

**Net-zero emissions means reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero.

Counterparties

The Secretary of State may appoint a counterparty* for:

carbon dioxide capture, transport and storage providers**;
hydrogen producers; and
hydrogen transport and storage providers***.

*A counterparty is an individual or organisation that provides financial support to organisations.

**A carbon dioxide capture, transport and storage provider is a person that captures, transports or stores carbon dioxide under a licence.

***A hydrogen transport and storage provider is a person that transports or stores hydrogen or a compound containing hydrogen.

Counterparties may:

impose conditions on providers;
specify the process to be followed when producing hydrogen or capturing carbon dioxide; and
specify targets for hydrogen production and carbon capture.

Duties
Various duties apply.

Amendment

The Energy Act 2023 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2024 is amended so that Section 303 will no longer come into force on the 31st January 2024. Section 303 relates to the decommissioning of civil nuclear sites.

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Jurisdiction: Great Britain

Commencement: 1^st April 2023

Amends: The Health and Safety and Nuclear (Fees) Regulations 2022
Mini Summary

Amendment

A number of changes are made to the 2022 Regulations. Apart from minor technical corrections, the key changes are listed below.

Some fees are increased by 2%, as detailed in the Schedule.
A new cost recovery regime for ionising radiation consents is introduced, which allows the ONR (from 1st April 2023) and the HSE (from 1st October 2023) to recover their costs related to applications under regulation 7(2) of The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017.
Clarification that the licensing authority can charge fees in relation to certain explosives matters arising under The Explosives Regulations 2014, The Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014 and The Dangerous Goods in Harbour Areas Regulations 2016, even without the licence holder making an application.

This amendment has no direct relevance to occupational health and safety matters.

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Jurisdiction: Great Brittain

Commencement:1st April 2021
Summary
These Regulations revoke and replace The Health and Safety and Nuclear (Fees) Regulations 2016. The 2021 Regulations introduce fee increases for fees that were prescribed in the previous Regulations. Other than fee changes, the 2021 Regulations are almost identical to the 2016 Regulations (as amended). The only changes (apart from fee increases) are minor clarifications.

It is policy of the Government, the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR) to charge fees for a range of activities described as ‘permissioning work’ in order to recover their costs. Permissioning activities that are charged for include:

assessing and accepting safety cases;
issuing licences;
issuing certificates;
granting approvals;
granting exemptions from regulations;
accepting notifications;
assessing onshore borehole notifications (to align with cost recovery for offshore borehole notifications); and
‘Fee for Intervention’ (see below for more detail).

The charges set out in these Regulations are reviewed annually with the fees charged being amended as appropriate.

These Regulations fix or determine the fees payable by an applicant to, in most cases the HSE, in respect of:

an application for approval of plant and equipment under The Agriculture (Tractor Cabs) Regulations 1974;
applications under The Freight Containers (Safety Conventions) Regulations 2017;
applications for approval under The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012;
examination or surveillance by an employment medical adviser under The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017, The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, and The Work in Compressed Air Regulations 1996;
medical surveillance by an employment medical adviser under The Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002;
applications under The Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 and The Radiation (Emergency Preparedness and Public Information) Regulations 2019;
applications under The Explosives Regulations 2014 and The Acetylene Safety (England and Wales and Scotland) Regulations 2014;
applications under The Petroleum (Consolidation) Regulations 2014;
applications under Part 9 of The Dangerous Goods in Harbour Areas Regulations 2016;
applications and notifications under The Genetically Modified Organisms (Contained Use) Regulations 2014;
various functions performed by the regulator in relation to offshore installations;
assessing gas safety cases, providing associated advice or considering exemptions, under The Gas Safety (Management) Regulations 1996;
regulator functions in relation to nuclear installations under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965;
approval and provision of offshore first-aid training and medical training; and
notifications under The Borehole Sites and Operations Regulations 1995;
various regulator functions under Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 concerning the making available on the market and use of biocidal products and The Biocidal Products and Chemicals (Appointment of Authorities and Enforcement) Regulations 2013;
consideration of certain proposals made under Regulation (EC) 1272/2008 on classification, labelling and packaging of substances and mixtures (“CLP Regulation”); and
functions performed by the Executive where a “fee for intervention” is raised (see detailed note below).

“Fees for Intervention”
This scheme was first implemented in October 2012. The fee for intervention scheme allows an HSE inspector to recover costs, known as Fees for Intervention (FFI), from companies found to be in material breach of health and safety law. If an HSE Inspector visits a business and finds any ‘material breach’ of health and safety regulations, the Executive can recover its costs in investigating the breach from the business, by raising a ‘fee for intervention’ which is calculated at a rate which may be increased from time to time. [As at 1st January 2021 the rate is £157/ hour].

Businesses will not be charged where there is no breach identified or where the breaches are minor (not ‘material’).

There is a right of appeal to the HSE. If the HSE dismisses the appeal, additional charges may be incurred and rendered. There is a further right of appeal to a panel comprising the HSE and an independent panel member.

n.b. Local Authority inspectors do not have the power to raise invoices under this scheme.

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