RWMAC's Annual Report for 2000-2001

Annex 8

Glossary of Technical and Other Terms

ALARA: As low as reasonably achievable; a concept meaning that the design and use of nuclear facilities should be such as to ensure that radiation exposures should be ALARA, economic and social factors being taken into account

Authorisation: The means by which NNRP approval of the safety of site-based NNPP operations is confirmed; an entirely different process to the granting of RSA93 authorisations

AWE: The Atomic Weapons Establishment; a UK Government owned, contractor-operated, company concerned mainly with nuclear weapons technology

AWEML: AWE Management Limited; the private sector consortium contracted by MoD to manage AWE

Becquerel: Bq; the standard international unit of measurement of radioactivity - equivalent to one disintegration per second

GBq: Gigabecquerel, one thousand million Bq

TBq: Terabecquerel, one million million Bq

BNFL: British Nuclear Fuels plc

BPEO: Best Practicable Environmental Option; a concept which implies that decisions on waste management have been based on assessment of alternative options evaluated on the basis of factors such as the occupational and environmental risks, the environmental impacts, the costs and the social implications

BPM: Best Practicable Means; within a particular waste management option, the level of management and engineering control that minimises, as far as practicable, the release of radioactivity to the environment whilst taking account of a wide range of factors, including cost-effectiveness, technological status, operational safety, and social and environmental factors

Cm 2919: The last Conservative Administration's White Paper : "Review of Radioactive Waste Management Policy - Final Conclusions" (July 1995)

Critical group: A group of members of the public whose exposure to radiation is reasonably homogenous and is typical of individuals receiving the highest radiation dose through a given pathway from a given radiation source

DCF rate: The discounted cash flow rate at which options for investment in projects are discounted back to a present value

Defra: Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; the Government body that, together with the Scottish Executive and the Welsh Assembly, sponsors RWMAC

DFR: The Dounreay Fast Reactor; an experimental reactor shut down in 1977

Dockyard: The Devonport and Rosyth naval dockyards are owned and operated by private companies and are used for the refitting, refuelling and active decommissioning of nuclear submarines. NIA65 and RSA93 apply; thus, NII and the environment agencies apply regulatory controls. NNRP provides internal assurance for MoD as owner of all wastes.

DRDL: Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited; the private company which owns and operates the dockyard at Devonport.

Drigg: The facility for the near-surface disposal of most of the UK's solid LLW operated by BNFL at Drigg, near Sellafield, in Cumbria

DSRP: The Dounreay Site Restoration Plan; UKAEA's draft strategic plan for the environmental restoration of the Dounreay nuclear site in Caithness, Scotland

DU: Depleted uranium; a non-fissile by product of the uranium enrichment process; the least radioactive form of uranium in industrial use

EA: The Environment Agency for England and Wales; one of the regulators for radioactive materials and radioactive wastes

Eskmeals: A MoD projectile test firing range in Cumbria

Faslane: Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde at Faslane; an operational base which provides maintenance and support services for two of the three UK nuclear submarine squadrons

FCA: The (nuclear) Fuel Cycle Area at Dounreay

FMPR: Financial, Management and Policy Review; a Government review mechanism for determining the need for individual Non-Departmental Public Bodies and assessing their effectiveness

FSA: The Food Standards Agency - which reports to the UK Government via the Department of Health

HAL: Highly active liquor; HLW in liquid form

HLW: High level (radioactive) wastes; classified in Cm 2919 as wastes in which the temperature may rise significantly as a result of their radioactivity, so that this factor has to be taken into account in designing storage or disposal facilities

HSE: The Health and Safety Executive

IAEA: The International Atomic Energy Agency

ILW: Intermediate level (radioactive) wastes; classifies in Cm 2919 as wastes with radioactivity levels exceeding the upper boundaries for LLW but which do not require heating to be taken into account in the design of storage or disposal facilities

Disposal Shaft: A waste disposal facility for ILW at Dounreay, not used since 1977, which is to be decommissioned.

IPT(s): Integrated project team(s); MoD bodies responsible for managing the NNPP and the Nuclear Weapons Programme

IRRs: Ionising Radiations Regulations (1999); legislation which sets down, inter alia, the maximum levels of radiation to which the general public and workers may be exposed, regulated by HSE

ISOLUS: Interim Storage of Laid-Up Submarines; MoD's study which addresses the process for deciding and implementing future policy for managing the hulls, and particularly the reactors, of decommissioned nuclear submarines, on which public consultation is currently being carried out

Kirkcudbright: A MoD projectile test firing range in south west Scotland

Letter of comfort: A document, provided by Nirex, confirming that a specific waste stream is in a form (for example, in the way it is packaged) suitable for disposal

LLLETP: The low level liquid effluent treatment plant at Dounreay

LLW: Low level (radioactive) wastes; classified in Cm 2919 as wastes containing radioactive materials other than those acceptable for disposal with ordinary refuse, but not exceeding 4 GBq per tonne of alpha or 12 GBq per tonne of beta/gamma activity

MAC: Medium active concentrate; a liquid radioactive waste product of the reprocessing of Magnox nuclear fuel at Sellafield

Magnox: The type of reactor used in the UK's second generation NPP

Microsievert: One millionth of a sievert; a sievert is the standard international unit of radiation dose

Millisievert: One thousandth of a sievert

MOX: Mixed-oxide nuclear fuel; made from uranium and plutonium

NIA65: The Nuclear Installations Act 1965; the main legislation under which the NII regulates UK nuclear sites

NII: The Nuclear Installations Inspectorate; the regulator for civil nuclear plant safety in relation to the safety of the public and nuclear workers, part of the HSE

Nirex: UK Nirex Limited; the company established by the UK nuclear industry, with the support of Government, to provide and manage facilities for the disposal of solid ILW and some LLW

NNPP: The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme; essentially, the MoD's programme for UK submarines equipped with nuclear steam raising plant

NNRP: The Naval Nuclear Regulatory Panel; an independent regulator, within MoD, in relation to the safety of operations undertaken under the NNPP. NNRP has two roles - that of "external" regulator for parts of the NNPP where the civil provisions do not apply, and that of providing MoD with an internal assurance mechanism where they do. NNRP approval of the safety of site-based operations is confirmed by the granting of "Authorisations" which cover both MoD and private sector company activities. Authorisation can therefore be seen as a means of discharging both regulatory and assurance functions

NPP: Nuclear Power Plant

NuSAC: The Nuclear Safety Advisory Committee; an independent committee that advises the UK Government on issues of nuclear safety

OCPA: The Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments

OSPAR: The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-east Atlantic; an aim of which is the use of best available techniques to prevent and eliminate pollution by inputs of radioactive substances to the maritime area. An international agreement on these issues was drawn up at Sintra in 1998 - the "OSPAR-Sintra" meeting

PFR: The Prototype Fast Reactor; an experimental reactor at Dounreay, shut down in 1994

Pseudo-RSA93: RWMAC's term for the application of regulatory control on radioactive wastes by EA and SEPA to defence sites operated by MoD directly, which has no force in statute, but is intended to have identical practical effect

Rosyth: A privatised dockyard, which, although used to refuel and refit UK nuclear submarines since the late 1960s, has never served as an operating base. A number of de-fuelled and decommissioned submarines are berthed at Rosyth

RSA93: The Radioactive Substances Act 1993; the legislation under which, inter alia, EA and SEPA regulate the keeping and use of radioactive materials and the management of radioactive wastes. RSA93 does not apply to activities directly carried out by MoD

RWI: The (UK) Radioactive Waste Inventory

SDP: The Sodium Disposal Plant at Dounreay

SEPA: The Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, one of the regulators for radioactive materials and radioactive wastes

SMP: The Sellafield MOX (manufacturing) Plant at Sellafield

THORP: The Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant at Sellafield

Tritium: A radioactive isotope of hydrogen (H-3)

UKAEA: The United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority; a state-owned organisation responsible, inter alia, for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities, including those at its Dounreay site

VLLW: Very low level (radioactive) waste; classified in Cm 2919 as wastes which can safely be disposed of with ordinary refuse - "dustbin disposal"

Vulcan NRTE: The Naval Reactor Test Establishment, located at Dounreay, on the north coast of Scotland, operated by MoD, the principal undertaking of which is development of the Royal Navy's nuclear submarine propulsion plan, acting as the test bed for prototype nuclear reactors

Wet silo: A storage facility for ILW at Dounreay which is due to be decommissioned