Implementation of the Shipments of Radioactive Substances (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 on shipments of sealed sources from EU Member States to UK nuclear licensed sites
The Shipments of Radioactive Substances (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (hereby referred to as the regulations) came into force in January 2021 and revoked and replaced the Council Regulation (Euratom) 1493/93 on shipments of radioactive substances between EU Member States.
The regulations require that shipments of sealed sources (whenever the quantities and concentrations exceed the levels laid down) from EU Member States to the UK* are controlled and documented. In particular, they require that the consignee (the person in the UK to whom the shipment is to be made) completes a prior written declaration to the effect that the consignee has complied in full with all relevant national requirements in the UK for the safe storage, use or disposal of those sources.
* The regulations do not apply to shipments from the UK to the EU, where EU legislation will be relevant.
Regulatory responsibilities in the UK
For shipments of sealed sources to sites licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act, the competent authority is the Office for Nuclear Regulation.
For shipments of sealed sources to non-nuclear licensed sites the competent authorities are the Environment Agency in England, Natural Resources Wales in Wales, the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency in Scotland and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.
Responsibilities of consignor and consignee
When a consigner (holder) of sealed sources in an EU Member State intends to carry out a shipment into the UK, the consignee in the UK must complete a prior written declaration to the effect that they have complied in full with all relevant national requirements in the UK for the safe storage, use or disposal of those sources.
The declaration must be made on a standard form, which can be found at: Shipping radioactive sources between the UK and EU - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
For shipments of sealed sources to UK sites licensed under the Nuclear Installations Act, the consignee must send the completed declaration to ONR. We will send written acknowledgment of receipt to the consignee.
The declaration of compliance and acknowledgement of receipt must then be sent by the consignee (in the UK) to the consignor (in the EU) before the shipment can take place.
Declarations may refer to more than one shipment from the same consignor and such a declaration may be valid for a specified period of up to three years.
Contact
Completed declaration forms and related enquiries should be sent to:
Division Delivery Support
Office for Nuclear Regulation
3rd Floor – St James House
St James Square
Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
GL50 3PR
ONRTechDiv@onr.gov.uk
Note – declarations should have an appropriate security classification applied. Should an “Official-Sensitive” marking be appropriate, the declaration should be transmitted to ONR via a route appropriate to this security classification (see paragraph 9 of the Classification Policy for the Civil Nuclear Industry).