ABRO

Army Base Repair Organisation

AEA Technology Limited; a private company specialising in science and engineering services

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

As Low As Reasonably Practicable; a radiological protection principle which requires measures to be taken to reduce risk until or unless the cost of those measures, whether in money, time or trouble, is disproportionate to the reduction in risk

The Active Processing Facility for solid radioactive wastes at Faslane

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

The Active Waste Accumulation Facility at Rosyth, a radioactive waste store

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

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

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

GBq Gigabecquerel, one thousand million Bq

 

British Nuclear Fuels plc

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

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

Babcock Rosyth Defence Limited; the owner and operator of the Rosyth dockyard

(Chelating agents) Chemicals used to take and hold specific metals into solution, thereby isolating them from other reactions

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

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

The new radioactive waste store at Devonport, primarily for spent ion-exchange resins

MoD's Radiological Protection Services organisation, part of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA)

The site consisting of the Devonport naval base and the Devonport dockyard

The Devonport and Rosyth dockyards are owned and operated by private companies and are used for the refitting, refuelling and active decommissioning (including de-fuelling) 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. In this context, NNRP "Authorisation" of Devonport encompasses both dockyard and naval base functions

Defence Nuclear Safety Committee; a body charged with giving MoD independent advice on issues of nuclear safety and radioactive waste management

Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited; the private company which owns and operates the dockyard at Devonport. DRDL retains its original title - DML - as a trading name

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

MoD's Headquarters organisation dealing with defence safety, environment, and fire policy

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

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

Effluent Treatment Plant for low level liquid radioactive wastes at Devonport

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

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

The Health and Safety Executive

The Health and Safety at Work Acts

The International Atomic Energy Agency

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

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

International Standards Organisation

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 the SSA is currently carrying out consultation

Joint Service Publication; a documentary system of guidance maintained by MoD for its employees, inter alia, on Health and Safety and radiological protection

One of the principles on which the system of radiological protection is based, by which no practice involving exposure to radiation should be adopted unless it produces sufficient benefit to the exposed population or to society to offset the radiation detriment it causes

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

Local Liaison Committee; a body convened at many nuclear sites to allow site operators, local stakeholders and, sometimes, the regulators, to exchange information and views

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

Land Quality Assessment; a report, or series of reports, undertaken to permit the management of environmental risks, and recording the results of surveys into, inter alia, the possible contamination, both radioactive and non-radioactive, of a MoD site

A container used to transport Magnox reactor fuel

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

One thousandth of a sievert

Multi-stage Oxidative Decontamination with Ion-eXchange; a process used, among other things, to clean the reactor pressure vessels and primary circuit pipework of nuclear submarines prior to refuelling

The Nuclear Awareness Group; a pressure group mainly concerned with activities at AWE

At Devonport and Faslane, the naval base is where, inter alia, routine on-board repair and maintenance work is undertaken directly by MoD and where (only at Devonport) defuelled and decommissioned submarines are berthed. RSA93 and NIA65 do not apply. The safety of the MoD work is scrutinised by NNRP as the "external" regulator for those parts of the NNPP. The accumulation and disposal of radioactive wastes are regulated by the environment agencies under the pseudo-RSA93 arrangements

The UK National Discharges Strategy; more precisely, the draft UK Strategy for Radioactive Discharges, on which the Government carried out consultation during 2000

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

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

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

The Naval Nuclear Propulsion Programme; essentially, the MoD's programme for UK submarines equipped with nuclear steam raising plant (NSRP), encompassing considerations of submarine design, construction, maintenance, refitting, de-fuelling and refuelling, decommissioning (once redundant) and long-term management

The Naval Nuclear Regulatory Panel; the Royal Navy's own regulator in relation to the safety of operations undertaken under the NNPP. In this report, it has been convenient to refer to NNRP's 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

The use of inverted commas around `external' is used because NNRP is not, of course, outside MoD, in the sense that an external regulator normally implies, but is divorced (if not yet fully) from the Navy's operational line of command

NNRP "external" regulation applies where NNPP operations are undertaken directly by MoD, as at the Devonport and Faslane naval bases, the Royal Naval Armaments Depot, Coulport, and NRTE Vulcan, and in relation to other MoD sites which are less important in terms of submarine support operations, such as Portsmouth

Where MoD operations are subject to statute, and therefore civil regulation, NNRP works alongside the regulators, but has a specific role to provide assurance to MoD, as the owner of the radioactive materials and wastes that its responsibilities are being properly discharged. Primarily, NNRP provides MoD internal assurance at the Devonport and Rosyth dockyards (where submarine fuelling and refitting operations have been privatised)

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

Since NNRP has "cradle to grave" responsibilities for submarine reactors, its functions also extend, in principle, to reactor design and construction (which is undertaken by the private sector) and the long-term management of submarine radioactive wastes (which are also carried by private companies on MoD's behalf). In practice, NNRP's actual functions have not, as yet, been developed to cover these areas

A consent, under the pseudo-RSA93 arrangements, granted by EA and SEPA, to keep and use radioactive materials. A Letter of Agreement is an analogous consent to accumulate, store and dispose of radioactive waste

MoD's Nuclear Propulsion Integrated Project Team

Nuclear Steam Raising Plant; essentially a submarine nuclear reactor

A type of container used for transporting spent nuclear fuel, first approved in August 1994; the present approval certificate will expire in June 2003

MoD's Nuclear Weapons Integrated Project Team

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

In RWMAC's view, broadly the concept of holding radioactive materials in a passively safe form with a minimal need for active control systems or human intervention; requirements for storage surroundings are important

Portable Effluent Tanks used to transport low level radioactive effluent from submarines to the REDF at Faslane

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

(Submarine) Primary Shield Tank

Pressurised water reactor - the two types of which comprise the reactors installed in the UK's nuclear powered submarines

Resin Catch Tanks; containers used to store spent ion-exchange resins used in the treatment of liquid radioactive wastes

The site decommissioning and remediation project overseen by BRDL at Rosyth

The Radioactive Effluent Disposal Facility at Faslane

The Royal Navy Armaments Depot at the Coulport site, near Faslane, which, inter alia, undertakes the loading and unloading of submarine armaments, including nuclear warheads

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

Radiation Protection Adviser

MoD's Radiation Protection Policy Committee

Reactor pressure vessel

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

Resin Storage Vessel; used to store spent ion-exchange resins

MoD's Radioactive Waste Information Group

MoD's Radioactive Waste Working Group

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

Board MoD's Defence Safety, Health, Environment and Fire Board

The Submarine Refit Complex at Devonport

MoD's Ships Support Agency

A radioactive isotope of hydrogen (H-3)

Used Fuel Flask; a type of container used for transporting spent nuclear fuel. The UFF was first approved in November 2000; the present approval certificate will expire in November 2003.

Used Core Transport Package; a type of container used for transporting spent nuclear fuel, first approved in November 1977; the final approval certificate expired in October 1991

The most modern operational Class of UK nuclear powered submarine

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

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