1: Introduction

This document presents current best practice guidance for the characterisation of contaminated or potentially contaminated land on:

• nuclear-licensed sites, including any off-site operational areas (either current or former operations) controlled by the licensee
• sites currently owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) where there is a potential for radioactive contamination to be present. In this guidance, such sites are termed 'defence sites'

Aims of the guidance

The aims of the guidance are to:

• describe the types of contaminated land commonly encountered on nuclear-licensed sites and defence sites where radioactivity may be present
• identify the key health, safety and environment issues in site investigations on nuclear-licensed sites and defence sites where radioactivity may be present
• identify the reasons for carrying out investigation of potentially contaminated land on nuclear-licensed sites and defence sites where radioactivity may be present, and the required end points of those investigations
• describe best practice design of site investigations and the available site characterisation methods
• identify key areas for improvement in current practice

The types of contaminated site addressed in this guidance are shown below.

Audience

This best practice guidance on site characterisation is intended principally for the following audience:

• liability holders, when designing and specifying site investigations to characterise contamination of land
• regulators, when evaluating the adequacy and conclusions from these site investigations
• consultants and contractors, when undertaking site investigations on nuclear-licensed and defence sites

In addition, the document is intended to be accessible to other stakeholders, such as local authorities, central government and developers of currently or previously contaminated sites.

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