The Nuclear Safeguards Regulations 20
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Draft Regulations laid before Parliament under sections 113(2)(a) and (aa) of the Energy Act 2013 and section 2(5) of the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, for approval by resolution of each House of Parliament. DRAFT STATUTORY INSTRUMENTS 20-- No. ENERGY The Nuclear Safeguards Regulations 20-- Made - - - - *** Coming into force - - *** The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 74(3), 75, 76, 76A(1)(a) and (b), 76A(2), 76A(3), 76A(6), 113(7), of and paragraphs 2 to 16 of Schedule 2 to the Energy Act 2013(a) and by sections 2(1) and (3) of the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, makes the following Regulations: In accordance with section 113(2)(a) and (aa) of the Energy Act and with section 2(5) of the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, a draft of these Regulations has been laid before Parliament and approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Citation and commencement 1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Nuclear Safeguards Regulations 20--. (2) Subject to paragraph (3), these Regulations come into force on **** 20--. (3) Regulations [ ] come into force on [ ]. Interpretation 2. In these Regulations— “Additional Protocol” means the Protocol dated [ ], entered into between the United Kingdom and the Agency which is additional to the Agreement with the Agency; “adjustment” means an entry made in an accounting record or a report, which is required by these Regulations, and which shows a shipper/receiver difference or material unaccounted for; “Agency” means the International Atomic Energy Agency; (a) 2013 c.32. “Agreement with the Agency” means the agreement made on [ ] between the United Kingdom and the Agency for the application of safeguards in the United Kingdom in connection with the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons; “annual throughput” means the amount of qualifying nuclear material transferred annually out of a qualifying nuclear facility working at nominal capacity; “batch” means a portion of qualifying nuclear material handled as a unit for accounting purposes at a key measurement point and for which the composition and quantity are defined by a single set of specifications or measurements. The qualifying nuclear material may be in bulk form or contained in a number of separate items; “batch data” means the total weight of each element of qualifying nuclear material and, in the case of plutonium and uranium, the isotopic composition when appropriate. The units of account shall be as follows— (a) grams of contained plutonium; (b) grams of total uranium and grams of contained uranium-235 plus uranium-233 for uranium enriched in these isotopes; and (c) kilograms of contained thorium, natural uranium or depleted uranium for reporting purposes the weights of individual items in the batch must be added together before rounding to the nearest unit; “book inventory” of a material balance area means the algebraic sum of the most recent physical inventory of that material balance area and of all inventory changes that have occurred since that physical inventory was taken; “categories” of qualifying nuclear material are natural uranium, depleted uranium, uranium enriched in uranium-235 or uranium-233, thorium and plutonium; “commencement date” means [ ] 20--; “conditioned waste” means waste, which has been conditioned in such a way (for example, in glass, cement, concrete or bitumen) that it is not suitable for further nuclear use; “correction” means an entry made in an accounting record or report to rectify an identified mistake or to reflect an improved measurement of a quantity previously entered in a record or report. Each correction must identify the entry to which it relates; “decommissioned qualifying nuclear installation” means a qualifying nuclear installation for which it has been verified that residual structures and equipment essential for its use have been removed or rendered inoperable so that it is not used to store and can no longer be used to handle, process or utilise source material nor fissionable material; “defence purposes” means defence purposes within the meaning of section 70 of the Energy Act 2013; “discards to the environment” means waste, measured or estimated on the basis of measurements, which has been irrecoverably discarded to the environment as a result of a planned discharge; “effective kilogram” means a unit used in safeguarding qualifying nuclear material which is obtained by taking— (a) for plutonium, its weight in kilograms; (b) for uranium with an enrichment of 0. 01 (1%) and above, its weight in kilograms multiplied by the square of its enrichment; (c) for uranium with an enrichment below 0. 01 (1%) and above 0. 005 (0. 5%), its weight in kilograms multiplied by 0. 0001; and (d) for depleted uranium with an enrichment of 0. 005 (0. 5%) or below, and for thorium, its weight in kilograms multiplied by 0. 00005; “Energy Act” means the Energy Act 2013; “enrichment” means the ratio of the combined weight of the isotopes uranium-233 and uranium-235 to that of the total uranium in question; 2 “fissionable material” means— (a) plutonium-239, (b) uranium-233, (c) uranium containing the isotopes 235 or 233 or both, in an amount such that the abundance ratio of the sum of these isotopes to the isotope 238 is greater than the ratio of the isotope 235 to the isotope 238 occurring in nature, and (d) any material containing one or more of the materials described in paragraphs (a) to (c); “inventory change” means an increase or decrease, in terms of batches, of qualifying nuclear material in a material balance area which involves one of the following— (a) increase— (i) import; (ii) domestic receipt: receipts within the United Kingdom from another material balance area or from an activity not subject to safeguards under these Regulations; (iii) nuclear production: production of fissionable material in a reactor; and (iv) de-exemption: re-application of safeguards on qualifying nuclear material previously exempted therefrom on account of its use or quantity; (b) decrease— (i) export; (ii) domestic shipment: shipments within the United Kingdom to other material balance areas or for an activity not subject to safeguards under these Regulations; (iii) nuclear loss: loss of qualifying nuclear material due to its transformation into one or more other elements or isotopes as a result of nuclear reactions; (iv) measured discard: qualifying nuclear material which has been measured, or estimated on the basis of measurements, and disposed of in such a way that it is not suitable for further nuclear use; (v) retained waste: nuclear material generated from processing or from an operational accident, which is deemed to be irrecoverable for the time being but which is stored; (vi) exemption: exemption of qualifying nuclear material from safeguards on account of its use or quantity; and (vii) other loss: for example, accidental loss (that is, irretrievable and inadvertent loss of qualifying nuclear material as the result of an operational accident) or theft. “item” means an identifiable unit of qualifying nuclear material such as a fuel assembly or a fuel pin; “key measurement point” means a location where qualifying nuclear material appears in such a form that it may be measured to determine material flow or inventory, including, but not limited to, the inputs and outputs (including measured discards) and storages in material balance areas; “material balance area” means an area in a qualifying nuclear facility in respect of which— (a) the quantity of qualifying nuclear material in each transfer into or out of the material balance area can be determined; and (b) the physical inventory of qualifying nuclear material in the material balance area can be determined when necessary in accordance with specified procedures, in order that the material balance for safeguards purposes under these Regulations can be established; “material unaccounted for” means the difference between a book inventory for a material balance area and the relevant physical inventory for that material balance area; “Nuclear Safeguards Act” means the Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018; “ONR” means the Office for Nuclear Regulation, the regulator for the civil nuclear industry in the United Kingdom; 3 “operator” means a person or undertaking setting up or operating a qualifying nuclear facility for the production, separation, reprocessing, storage or other use of qualifying nuclear material; “ore” means any ore containing any average concentration of (a) 0.1% or more uranium, in the case of uranium bearing ores; (b) 3% or more of thorium, in the case of thorium bearing ores other than monazites; or (c) 10% or more of thorium or 0.1% or more of uranium, in the case of monazites; from which a source material may be obtained by the appropriate chemical and physical processing; “physical inventory” means the sum of all the measured or derived estimates of batch quantities of qualifying nuclear material on hand at a given time within a material balance area, obtained in accordance with these Regulations; “qualifying nuclear equipment” means equipment designed or adapted for use in connection with qualifying nuclear material or a qualifying nuclear facility; “qualifying nuclear facility” means a facility (including associated buildings) in which qualifying nuclear material is produced, processed, used, handled, stored or disposed of; “qualifying nuclear material” means— (a) fissionable material; (b) source material in the form of (i) uranium metal, alloy or compound, or (ii) thorium metal, alloy