Environmental Authorisations (Scotland) Regulations 2018 – EASR18

These Regulations (as amended) exist to protect the public and the environment from certain harmful activities. Initially, only radioactive substances activities were covered, although the framework has since been extended to include other activities. They are enforced by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Under these Regulations, radioactive material and waste can fall into the following categories:

Out of scope – certain activities are not regarded as radioactive substances activities and therefore do not fall under the scope of these regulations.
Authorised – all activities which do fall under the scope of the regulations require authorisation.

Authorisations

Four types of authorisation are available:

General Binding Rules (GBRs) – rules that you must comply with to carry out low risk activities. You don’t need to contact SEPA about your work.
Notification – you must notify SEPA about the work, and there may be GBRs associated with your work that you need to comply with.
Registration – you need to apply to SEPA for registration prior to performing the work. Registrations include a set of standard conditions that you need to comply with.
Permit – you will need to apply for a permit before performing high risk activities. Permits may contain bespoke and/or standard conditions which you need to comply with.

General Binding Rules

General Binding Rules (GBRs) apply to many small sources and are similar to the conditional exemptions in the Environmental Permitting Regulations which are in place in England and Wales. Examples of activities which are subject to the GBRs are working with:

Category 5 sealed sources not exceeding 200 kBq
Tritium sources not exceeding 20 GBq
Thorium alloys or less than 5 kg of uranium or thorium compounds

The GBRs include ‘common rules’, additional rules and definitions and different rules apply to different activities. The common rules require employers to:

Keep adequate records of all sources for at least 2 years after transfer/disposal and the location where they are stored and used on the premises.
Where practicable, ensure that the sources or their container are labelled as radioactive, but remove labelling if disposing in normal refuse.
Hold the sources securely to minimise the risk of loss, theft and unauthorised use.
Manage the sources to prevent the unintended release of radioactive material.
Promptly notify SEPA if more than a specified activity of radioactive sources are lost or stolen (or suspected to be lost or stolen).
Not transfer a radioactive substance to someone who is not legally allowed to manage it.
Dispose of a radioactive substance as soon as practicable after declaring it as waste.

Further information on the GBRs can be found in Schedule 9 of EASR.

Notification

Certain activities require prior notification to be made to SEPA before they can take place, and some of these actives also require GBRs to followed. Examples of activities requiring notification include:

The management of orphan sources
Category 5 sources with an activity exceeding 200 kBq
Electrodeposited sources

It should be noted that working with electrodeposited Ni-63 sources used in gas liquid chromatography devices (GLCs) will require notification. Notification can be made online and must be renewed every 3 years.

Registration

Registration is needed for specific activities where SEPA have determined that a simple risk assessment is required to assess the application. An example of an activity requiring registration is bringing a [non-HASS] sealed source into Scotland which is normally kept in a different part of the UK. Depending on the specific registerable activity, a Radioactive Waste Advisor may also be required.

Permit

Permits are issued for higher risk activities and may contain standard and/or bespoke conditions. For permits involving the management of radioactive waste, a suitable Radioactive Waste Advisor must be consulted. Note that SEPA have determined that bringing HASS into Scotland that are normally kept elsewhere in the UK will now require a permit.