Other guidance

Briefing note on the Energy Act
Marion Hill 2005
The Energy Act received Royal Assent in July 2004. The Act covers the civil nuclear industry, renewable energy sources, and energy markets and regulation. This note summarises the parts of the Act that are most relevant to the management of contaminated land on nuclear and defence sites.
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Management of Radioactive Materials and Radioactive Waste on Nuclear Licensed Sites
Health and Safety Executive March 2001
This is HSE’s formal guidance on the management of contaminated land on nuclear-licensed sites. It is part of their guidance on the management of radioactive materials and radioactive waste because HSE regard radioactively contaminated soil (and other material in the ground) as an ‘accumulation’ of radioactive waste and require it to be dealt with as such. It is produced as guidance to HSE’s own nuclear inspectors but is intended to be useful to others, especially site operators.
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Guidance on the Characterisation and Remediation of Radioactively Contaminated Land
Environment Agency May 2002
This formal Environment Agency guidance is for their own officers and for organisations involved in the characterisation and remediation of radioactively contaminated land, where the Agency will regulate the disposal of the radioactive wastes arising from remediation. The document does not address radioactively contaminated land on nuclear-licensed sites (to which the HSE guidance applies, see above).
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Regulatory Framework for Contaminated Land on Nuclear-Licensed Sites and Defence Sites
Discussion Paper for the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network (Version 5)
Marion Hill, August 2007
This paper was originally produced for the SAFEGROUNDS Project Steering Group and is for use and discussion within the learning network. It contains a summary of the key features of the current UK regulatory framework and some observations on the practical difficulties with, and ambiguities in, that framework.
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Community Stakeholder Involvement (version 2)
August 2005
This paper was prepared within the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network and supplements the main guidance. This version is an update of the David Collier paper that was written in 2002. The update was managed by Graham Smith of Enviros Consulting and was completed in August 2005.

The update takes into account comments from the SAFEGROUNDS steering group and changes in the stakeholder involvement processes that have occurred since 2002. this paper has been developed through the SAFEGROUNDS process and the record of this can be viewed here.

Best practice guidance for site characterisation
This technical guidance was produced under an early task of the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network. It deals with characterisation of contaminated and potentially contaminated land on nuclear-licensed sites and defence sites, and covers both radioactive and non-radioactive contamination. The guidance focuses on those parts of investigations on such sites that differ from those on most contaminated land. Its aim is to summarise and signpost existing guidance.

Assessments of Health and Environmental Risks of Management Options for Contaminated Land
SAFEGROUNDS July 2005
This paper was prepared within the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network and supplements the main guidance. It deals with assessments for radioactively contaminated land, land on which non-radioactive contaminants are present, and land with mixed radioactive and non-radioactive contamination. It focuses on risk assessments that are to be carried out as part of comparisons of land management options, as input to the identification of the preferred option(s).
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Assessment of Risks to Human Health From Land Contamination
In 2002 Defra and the Environment Agency published a series of reports on guideline values for non-radioactive contaminants in soils and the bases for these values. Report CLR7 contains the guideline values. Reports CLR8, 9 and 10 describe the data, assumptions and model used in the derivations of these values.This suite of information was added to in 2004 by the publication of CLR11.

An overview of the development of soil guideline values and related research (CLR 7)
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Potential contaminants for the assessment of land
(CLR 8)
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Contaminants in Soil: Collation of toxicological data and intake values for humans
(CLR9)
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The Contaminated Land Exposure Assessment (CLEA) Model: Technical basis and algorithms
(CLR10)

Model procedures for the management of land contamination
(CLR11)
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Look-up tables for radiological assessment of contaminated land on Nuclear Licensed Sites (RADCONTAB) v1.0 (Note that the functionality of RADCONTAB is now almost all available in an improved format within ReCLAIM, see below)

BNFL have developed this freely-available spreadsheet-based tool to enable suitably qualified but relatively non-specialised assessors to make relatively rapid assessments of the radiological implications of data for concentrations of radionuclides in contaminated land and water on Nuclear Licensed sites .

The tool calculates doses via individual exposure pathways, with respect to unit and user-input values of specific activity (Bq g -1, Bq cm -2 or Bq L -1) for surface soil, buried soil and potable water. For user-input values of specific activity, these doses can be combined to derive a total dose for a particular contaminated land scenario. The tool allows the user to specify the exposure scenarios to be assessed, in terms of input parameters such as occupancy, ingestion rates or inhalation rates. The accompanying report provides guidance on suitable values for parameter values, but the onus is on the user to choose these values and justify their choice.

The tool was developed consultatively, using the SAFEGROUNDS website. A consultation in the summer of 2003 led to the final form of the specification. BNFL’s responses to this consultation were presented as an annexe to the final specification (December 2003).

A consultation in the summer of 2004 allowed comments to be made on a draft version of the spreadsheet tool and user guide report. BNFL’s responses to this consultation were collated and are presented alongside the final product.

The National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) acted as BNFL’s peer reviewer throughout the development process. NRPB’s peer review summary report is presented here alongside the final product.

The following links provide access to the tool and the documents mentioned above.

RADCONTAB 1.0 look-up tables spreadsheet tool (Microsoft Excel format)
User guide report
Final specification (with responses to 2003 consultation)
Responses to 2004 consultation
NRPB peer review summary report
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ReCLAIM

ReCLAIM v2.0 is an electronic spreadsheet tool developed by Nexia Solutions Ltd through funding from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (the NDA) that can undertake simple generic and site specific assessments of radioactively contaminated land. It is designed principally for Nuclear Licensed Sites but can be applied more widely.

Visit www.nexiasolutions.com/reclaim for more.

Technical Options for Managing Contaminated Land
Hugh Mallet, Enviros, April 2004
This paper was prepared within the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network and supplements the main guidance. It is a summary of information about the technical options for managing land that has non-radioactive contamination and those for managing radioactively contaminated land. The main intention of the paper is to provide assistance in the identification of all the envisageable management options for a specific site, prior to selection of a few for detailed comparison.

Selection of remedial treatment for contaminated land. A guide to good practice.
CIRIA
This CIRIA guide presents best practice methodology for the selection of remedial treatments. The user is taken through the various stages by which remedial techniques for treating contaminated land are identified, screened and selected, highlighting the key stages and providing pointers towards best practice. The treatment technologies screening matrix is a useful decision-making tool and guidance is provided on UK legislative regimes and sources of further information on technical and scientific aspects of remediation.
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Appendix 2
CIRIA
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An Assessment of the Records and Documents Required for Efficient Liabilities Management
John Taylor, Safety Issues Task Force/ BNFL October 2002
This short report for the Safety Issues Task Force of the UK Department of Trade and Industry’s Liabilities Management Group is about the records and documentation needed for management of liabilities on nuclear-licensed sites, including contaminated land. The report proposes a ‘minimum records/documentation set’ and identifies possible weaknesses in current records.
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US Department of Energy Long-Term Stewardship Work
The Office of Environmental Management of the USDOE is carrying out work to determine and implement the most appropriate long-term stewardship arrangements for DOE nuclear sites. Further information can be seen via the links below:

Information centre for long-term stewardship
Description of the long-term stewardship study
Study report

SAFEGROUNDS guidance Documents bearing the SAFEGROUNDS seal of approval have been developed through a full stakeholder dialogue process in conjunction with partners of the SAFEGROUNDS Learning Network. Further documents other than the SAFEGROUNDS guidance that has been through a full stakeholder dialogue process include: - documents produced within the SAFEGROUNDS learning network, with input from stakeholder dialogues, that are intended for information and assistance but that have a lower status than guidance - guidance produced by UK regulators and/or government departments - case studies (for example, from liability holders) - guidance produced by various organisations in countries other than the UK.