A nuclear site licence is granted for an indefinite period. In principle, one licence could cover the entire life cycle of a site from installation and commissioning, through to operation and the final stages of decommissioning and site clean-up. However, for many sites a replacement licence is required from time to time.
The need for relicensing can arise as a result of:
- A change of operator, since the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (NIA65) section 3(1) precludes nuclear site licences being transferred between corporate bodies;
- The incumbent licensee wishing to install and operate an installation that is not covered by its current licence; and/or
- The site boundary being extended, as NIA65 does not allow the licence to be varied to enlarge the licensed site.
Relicensing can take many forms ranging from the relatively straightforward to the extremely complex. Timescales to carry out relicensing assessments can therefore vary from a few months for a simple boundary change to well over a year for a multi-factor licensing change. Following an initial assessment and taking account of the extent of the changes which need to be assessed in more detail, we will be able to provide an estimate of the timescale for processing the licence application.