Nuclear site licensing

The safety of nuclear installations in the UK is assured by a system of regulatory control based on a licensing process by which a corporate body is granted a licence to use a site for specified activities.

ONR grants nuclear site licences on behalf of HSE. The nuclear site licence is a legal document, issued for the full life of the facility. It contains site-specific information, such as the licensee’s address and the location of the site, and defines the number and type of installations permitted. A set of 36 Standard Conditions, covering design, construction, operation and decommissioning, is also attached to each licence. These conditions require licensees to implement adequate arrangements to ensure compliance.

Further information

The licensing of nuclear installations
This document is currently under revision.
Companies subject to the provisions of Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended)
This table provides the names and addresses of companies holding nuclear site licences as of January 2011, together with the titles and locations of their licensed sites.
Nuclear site licence conditions
This document reproduces the licence conditions from the standard nuclear site licence and highlights the regulatory powers within the conditions.
The processing of applications for new nuclear sites’ (INS 036)
This guidance informs ONR inspectors on the assessment of applications for licences for new nuclear sites
The processing of applications for replacement licences for existing nuclear sites (INS 037)
This guidance informs ONR inspectors on the assessment of applications for replacement licences for sites licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended).

Nuclear site licensing

Further information

Resources

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