Nuclear Installations Act 1965

Miscellaneous and general

22Reporting of and inquiries into dangerous occurrences

(1)The provisions of this section shall have effect on the happening of any occurrence of any such class or description as may be prescribed, being an occurrence—

(a)on a licensed site; or

(b)in the course of the carriage of nuclear matter on behalf of any person where a duty with respect to that carriage is imposed on that person by section 7, 10 or 11 of this Act.

(2)The licensee or person aforesaid shall cause the occurrence to be reported forthwith in the prescribed manner to the Minister and to such other persons, if any, as may be prescribed in relation to occurrences of that class or description, and if the occurrence is not so reported the licensee or person aforesaid shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction—

(a)in the case of a first offence under this subsection, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds ;

(b)in the case of a second or subsequent offence under this subsection, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both.

(3)For the purposes of subsection (2) of this section, a conviction under section 6(2) of the Act of 1959 shall be deemed to be a conviction under subsection (2) of this section.

(4)The Minister may at any time direct an inspector to make a special report with respect to the occurrence, and the Minister may cause any such report, or so much thereof as it is not in his opinion inconsistent with the interests of national security to disclose, to be made public at such time and in such manner as he thinks fit.

(5)The Minister may, where he thinks it expedient so to do, direct an inquiry to be held in accordance with the provisions of the Schedule to this Act into the occurrence and its causes, circumstances and effects; and any such inquiry shall be held in public except where or to the extent that it appears to the Minister expedient in the interests of national security to direct otherwise.

(6)Where, in the case of an occurrence in Scotland which causes the death of any person, the Minister directs an inquiry to be held into the occurrence under subsection (5) of this section, no inquiry with regard to that death shall, unless the Lord Advocate otherwise directs, be held in pursuance of the [1895 c. 36.] Fatal Accidents Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1895.

23Registration in connection with certain occurrences

(1)Without prejudice to any right of any person to claim against any person by virtue of any of sections 7 to 11 of this Act, the appropriate authority may, on the happening of any occurrence in respect of which liability may be incurred by virtue of any of those sections, by order make provision for enabling such particulars of any person shown to have been within such area during such period (being the period during which the occurrence took place) as may be specified in the order to be registered by or on behalf of that person in such manner as may be so specified, and any such registration in respect of any person shall be sufficient evidence of his presence within that area during that period unless the contrary is proved; and any such order shall be made by statutory instrument and be laid before Parliament after being made.

(2)In the foregoing subsection, the expression "the appropriate authority" means, in relation to any occurrence, the authority hereinafter specified in relation to the person against whom any claim in respect of that occurrence falls to be made, that is to say—

(a)where that person is the Authority, the Minister of Technology;

(b)where that person is the Crown, the Minister in charge of the government department concerned ;

(c)in any other case, the Minister.

24Inspectors

(1)The Minister may appoint as inspectors to assist him in the execution of this Act such number of persons appearing to him to be qualified for the purpose as he may from time to time consider necessary or expedient, and may make to or in respect of any person so appointed such payments by way of remuneration, allowances or other payments as the Minister may with the approval of the Treasury determine.

(2)Any such inspector may, for the purposes of the execution of this Act, and subject to production, if so requested, of written evidence of his authority—

(a)subject to subsection (3) of this section, enter—

(i)at all reasonable times during the period of the licensee's responsibility, upon any premises comprised in any licensed site; or

(ii)at all reasonable times, upon any premises comprised in any site which is being used for such purposes that, but for regulations made by virtue of section 1(2) of this Act, a nuclear site licence would be required in respect thereof,

with such equipment, and carry out such tests and inspections, as the inspector may consider necessary or expedient;

(b)require—

(i)the licensee of any licensed site ; or

(ii)the person using any site as mentioned in paragraph (a)(ii) of this subsection ; or

(iii)any person with duties on or in connection with any licensed site or any site being used as aforesaid,

to provide the inspector with such information, or to permit him to inspect such documents, relating to the use of the site as the inspector may specify;

(c)enter any place, vehicle, vessel or aircraft involved in any such occurrence as is mentioned in section 22(1) of this Act with such equipment, and carry out such tests and inspections, as he may consider necessary or expedient;

(d)require the licensee or other person referred to in the said section 22(1) concerned in any such occurrence and any other person with duties concerning the nuclear matter involved in the occurrence to provide him with such information, or to permit him to inspect such documents, relating to the nuclear matter as the inspector may specify.

(3)Before carrying out any test in pursuance of his powers under subsection (2)(a) of this section, the inspector shall consult with such persons having duties upon the site as may appear to him appropriate in order to secure that the carrying out of the test does not create any danger.

(4)Any person who obstructs an inspector in the exercise of his powers under subsection (2)(a) or (c) of this section or who refuses or without reasonable excuse fails to provide any information or to permit any inspection reasonably required by the inspector under subsection (2)(b) or (d) thereof shall be guilty of an offence and be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both.

(5)Any person who, without the authority of the Minister, discloses any information obtained in the exercise of powers under this Act shall be guilty of an offence and be liable—

(a)on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both;

(b)on conviction on indictment, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both.

(6)In such cases and to such extent as it may appear to the Minister, with the agreement of the Treasury, to be appropriate so to do, the Minister shall require a licensee to repay to the Minister such part as may appear to the Minister to be attributable to the nuclear installations in respect of which nuclear site licences have been granted to that licensee of—

(a)any sums paid by the Minister under subsection (1) of this section ; and

(b)any expenses, being—

(i)expenses incurred by the Minister; or

(ii)expenses incurred by any other government department in connection with the Ministry of Power; or

(iii)such sums as the Treasury may determine in respect of the use for the purposes of that Ministry of any premises belonging to the Crown,

which the Minister may, with the consent of the Treasury, determine to be incurred in connection with the exercise by the Minister of his powers under the said subsection (1),

and the licensee shall comply with such requirement; and any sums so repaid to the Minister shall be paid into the Exchequer.

(7)Any liability of a licensee in respect of sums payable by him under subsection (6) of this section on account of pensions shall, if the Minister so determines, be satisfied by way of contributions calculated, at such rate as may be determined by the Treasury, by reference to remuneration.

25Offences-general

(1)Where a body corporate is guilty of an offence under any of the provisions of this Act and that offence is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of, or to be attributable to any neglect on the part of, any director, manager, secretary or other similar officer of the body corporate or any person who was purporting to act in any such capacity, he, as well as the body corporate, shall be guilty of that offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly; and where the body corporate was guilty of the offence in the capacity of licensee under a nuclear site licence, he shall be so liable as if he, as well as the body corporate, were the licensee.

In this subsection, the expression " director ", in relation to a body corporate established by or under any enactment for the purpose of carrying on under national ownership any industry or part of an industry or undertaking, being a body corporate whose affairs are managed by its members, means a member of that body corporate.

(2)Where a body corporate is convicted on indictment of an offence under any of the following provisions of this Act, that is to say, sections 1(3), 2(2), 4(6), 5(4) and 19(5), so much of the provision in question as limits the amount of the fine which may be imposed shall not apply, and the body corporate shall be liable to a fine of such amount as the court thinks just.

(3)Proceedings in respect of any offence under this Act shall not be instituted in England or Wales except by the Minister or by or with the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

26Interpretation

(1)In this Act, except where the context otherwise requires, the following expressions have the following meanings respectively, that is to say—

• " the Act of 1959 " means the [1959 c. 46.] Nuclear Installations (Licensing and Insurance) Act 1959;

• " atomic energy " has the meaning assigned by the [1946 c. 80.] Atomic Energy Act 1946;

• " the Authority " means the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority;

• " contravention ", in relation to any enactment or to any condition imposed or direction given thereunder, includes a failure to comply with that enactment, condition or direction, and cognate expressions shall be construed accordingly;

• " costs " in the application of this Act to Scotland, means expenses;

• " cover period " has the meaning assigned by section 19(2) of this Act;

• " excepted matter " means nuclear matter consisting only of one or more of the following, that is to say—

  (a)

  isotopes prepared for use for industrial, commercial, agricultural, medical or scientific purposes ;

  (b)

  natural uranium;

  (c)

  any uranium of which isotope 235 forms not more than 0.72 per cent.;

  (d)

  nuclear matter of such other description, if any, in such circumstances as may be prescribed (or, for the purposes of the application of this Act to a relevant foreign operator, as may be excluded from the operation of the relevant international agreement by the relevant foreign law);

• " home territory ", in relation to a relevant foreign operator, means the relevant territory in which, for the purposes of a relevant international agreement, he is the operator of a relevant installation ;

• " injury " means personal injury and includes loss of life;

• " inspector " means an inspector appointed under section 24 of this Act;

• " licensed site " means a site in respect of which a nuclear site licence has been granted, whether or not that licence remains in force ;

• " licensee " means a person to whom a nuclear site licence has been granted, whether or not that licence remains in force;

• " the Minister " means—

  (a)

  in the application of this Act to England and Wales, the Minister of Power ;

  (b)

  in the application of this Act to Scotland, the Secretary of State;

• " nuclear installation " means a nuclear reactor or an installation such as is mentioned in section 1(1)(b) of this Act;

• " nuclear matter " means, subject to any exceptions which may be prescribed—

  (a)

  any fissile material in the form of uranium metal, alloy or chemical compound (including natural uranium), or of plutonium metal, alloy or chemical compound, and any other fissile material which may be prescribed ; and

  (b)

  any radioactive material produced in, or made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incidental to, the process of producing or utilising any such fissile material as aforesaid ;

• " nuclear reactor " means any plant (including any machinery, equipment or appliance, whether affixed to land or not) designed or adapted for the production of atomic energy by a fission process in which a controlled chain reaction can be maintained without an additional source of neutrons;

• " nuclear site licence " has the meaning assigned by section 1 (1) of this Act;

• " occurrence " in sections 16(1), 17(3) and 18 of this Act—

  (a)

  in the case of a continuing occurrence, means the whole of that occurrence; and

  (b)

  in the case of an occurrence which is one of a succession of occurrences all attributable to a particular happening on a particular relevant site or to the carrying out from time to time on a particular relevant site of a particular operation, means all those occurrences collectively;

• " period of responsibility ", in relation to a licensee, has the meaning assigned by section 5 (3) of this Act;

• " prescribed " means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister of Power and the Secretary of State acting jointly, which shall be made by statutory instrument and be subject to annulment in pursuance of a resolution of either House of Parliament;

• " relevant carriage ", in relation to nuclear matter, means carriage on behalf of—

  (a)

  a licensee as the licensee of a particular licensed site; or

  (b)

  the Authority ; or

  (c)

  a government department for the purposes of such use of a site by that department as is mentioned in section 9 of this Act; or

  (d)

  a relevant foreign operator; or

  (e)

  a person authorised to operate a nuclear reactor which is comprised in a means of transport and in which the nuclear matter in question is intended to be used;

• " relevant foreign contribution ", in relation to any claim, means any sums falling by virtue of any relevant international agreement to be paid by the government of any relevant (territory other than the United Kingdom towards the satisfaction of that claim;

• " relevant foreign judgment" means a judgment of a court of a relevant territory other than the United Kingdom which, under a relevant international agreement, is to be enforceable anywhere within the relevant territories;

• " relevant foreign law " means the law of a relevant territory other than the United Kingdom or any part thereof regulating in accordance with a relevant international agreement matters falling to be so regulated and, in relation to a particular relevant foreign operator, means the law such as aforesaid of his home territory;

• " relevant foreign operator " means a person who, for the purposes of a relevant international agreement, is the operator of a relevant installation in a relevant territory other than the United Kingdom ;

• " relevant installation " means an installation to which a relevant international agreement applies ;

• " relevant international agreement " means an international agreement with respect to third-party liability in the field of nuclear energy to which the United Kingdom or Her Majesty's Government therein are party, other than an agreement relating to liability in respect of nuclear reactors comprised in means of transport;

• " relevant site" means any of the following, that is to say—

  (a)

  a licensed site at any time during the period of the licensee's responsibility;

  (b)

  any premises at any time when they are occupied by the Authority;

  (c)

  any site at any time when it is occupied by a government department, if that site is being or has been used by that department as mentioned in section 9 of this Act;

  (d)

  any site in a relevant territory other than the United Kingdom at any time when that site is being used for the operation of a relevant installation by a relevant foreign operator;

• " relevant territory " means a country for the time being bound by a relevant international agreement;

• " territorial limits " includes territorial waters.

(2)References in this Act to the carriage of nuclear matter shall be construed as including references to any storage incidental to the carriage of that matter before its delivery at its final destination.

(3)Any question arising under this Act as to whether—

(a)any person is a relevant foreign operator ; or

(b)any law is the relevant foreign law with respect to any matter; or

(c)any country is for the time being a relevant territory,

shall be referred to and determined by the Minister.

(4)Save where the context otherwise requires, any reference in this Act to any enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as amended, extended or applied by or under any other enactment.

27Northern Ireland

(1)In the application to Northern Ireland of the following provisions of this Act (hereafter in this section referred to as " the designated provisions "), that is to say, sections 1 to 6 and 22 to 24 and the Schedule—

(a)any reference to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister of Commerce for Northern Ireland;

(b)the expression " prescribed " shall mean prescribed by regulations made by the said Minister of Commerce, which shall be subject to negative resolution within the meaning of section 41(6) of the [1954 c. 33 (N.I.).] Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland). 1954;

(c)any reference to the Treasury shall be construed as a reference to the Ministry of Finance for Northern Ireland;

(d)any reference to Parliament shall be construed as a reference to the Parliament of Northern Ireland;

(e)for section 3(3)(b) and (c) there shall be substituted the following, that is to say—

“(b)any board of conservators for a fishery district constituted under the Fisheries Acts (Northern Ireland) 1842 to 1954 and any statutory water undertaking within the meaning of the [1945 c. 17 (N.I.).] Water Supplies and Sewerage Act (Northern Ireland) 1945”;

(f)section 23(1) shall have effect as if the words " be made by statutory instrument and " were omitted;

(g)in section 24(6)—

(i)references to the Ministry of Power or to the Crown shall be construed as references respectively to the Ministry of Commerce for Northern Ireland or to the Crown in right of Her Majesty's Government in Northern Ireland;

(ii)for the words from " and any sums " onwards there shall be substituted the words " and any sums so repaid to the Ministry of Commerce shall be treated as part of the revenues of that Ministry ";

(h)in the Schedule, any reference to a master of the Supreme Court or to the High Court shall be construed respectively as a reference to the taxing master of the Supreme Court of Northern Ireland or to a judge of the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland.

(2)In the application to Northern Ireland of any provision of this Act other than the designated provisions—

(a)any reference to the Minister shall be construed as a reference to the Minister of Power ;

(b)any reference to an enactment of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall be construed as a reference to that enactment as it applies in Northern Ireland;

(c)any reference to a government department shall be construed as including a reference to a department of the Government of Northern Ireland.

(3)In relation to a department of the Government of Northern Ireland using any site as mentioned in section 9 of this Act—

(a)references in this Act to the Crown shall be construed as references to the Crown in right of Her Majesty's Government in Northern Ireland ;

(b)references in this Act to the Minister in charge of that department shall be construed as references to the Minister of the Government of Northern Ireland so in charge.

(4)In the application to Northern Ireland of section 21(5) of this Act, the reference to Part VI of the [1960, c. 16.] Road Traffic Act 1960 shall be construed as a reference to Part II of the [1930 c. 24 (N.I.).] Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Northern Ireland) 1930 as amended or re-enacted (with or without modification) by any subsequent enactment of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the time being in force.

(5)Proceedings in respect of any offence under this Act shall not be instituted in Northern Ireland except—

(a)in the case of an offence under any of the designated provisions, by the said Minister of Commerce; or

(b)in the case of any other offence, by the Minister of Power; or

(c)in either case, by or with the consent of the Attorney General for Northern Ireland.

(6)Nothing in this Act shall authorise any department of the Government of Northern Ireland to incur any expenses attributable to the provisions of this Act until provision has been made by the Parliament of Northern Ireland for those expenses to be defrayed out of moneys provided by that Parliament.

(7)For the purposes of section 6 of the [1920 c. 67.] Government of Ireland Act 1920, the designated provisions and, so far as they relate to those provisions, section 25 of this Act and this section shall be deemed to have been passed before the appointed day within the meaning of the said section 6.

28Channel Islands, Isle of Man etc 29. Repeals and savings

(1)Her Majesty may by Order in Council direct that any of the provisions of this Act specified in the Order shall extend, with such exceptions, adaptations and modifications as may be so specified, to any of the Channel Islands, to the Isle of Man or to any other territory outside the United Kingdom for the international relations of which Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom are responsible.

(2)Any Order in Council made by virtue of this section may be varied or revoked by any subsequent Order in Council so made.

29(1)The [1959 c. 46.] Nuclear Installations (Licensing and Insurance) Act 1959 and the [1965 c. 6.] Nuclear Installations (Amendment) Act 1965 except for section 17(2) of the said Act of 1965 are hereby repealed.

(2)Anything done under or by virtue of any enactment repealed by this Act shall be deemed for the purposes of this Act to have been done under or by virtue of the corresponding provision of this Act, and anything begun under any of the enactments so repealed may be continued under the corresponding provision of this Act.

(3)So much of any enactment or document as refers expressly or by implication to any enactment repealed by this Act shall, if and so far as the context permits, be construed as a reference to this Act or the corresponding enactment therein.

(4)Nothing in this section shall be construed as affecting the general application of section 38 of the [1889 c. 63.] Interpretation Act 1889 with respect to the effect of repeals.

30Short title and commencement

(1)This Act may be cited as the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.

(2)This Act shall come into force on such day as Her Majesty may by Order in Council appoint; and a later day may be appointed for the purposes of section 17(5) than that appointed for the purposes of the other provisions of this Act.