Radioactive contaminated land

The Part 2A Contaminated Land Regime was extended to cover radioactivity in 2006 in England and Wales.

A further modification has now been made which extends the regime to cover land contaminated with radioactivity originating from nuclear installations, though it's thought unlikely that any sites meeting the relevant criteria will be found.

Regulations implementing this amendment came into force on 10 December 2007 in England and Wales.

The relevant regulations are:

Local authorities

Local authorities are still the lead regulator for land affected by contamination and should be your first point of contact for most queries.

The guidance on this page aims to give you an overview of the regime. It also clarifies our roles and responsibilities with respect to radioactive contaminated land and other land contaminated with radioactivity.

The following briefing notes provide more information about land affected by radioactivity:

• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 1 – Potential sources of radioactive contamination (PDF, 175KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 2 – Overview (PDF, 175KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 3 – Developing land contaminated with radioactivity (PDF, 286KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 4 – Contaminated Land (Part 2A) and radioactivity (PDF, 293KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 5 – Nuclear sites and land contamination (PDF, 176KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 6 – The Environmental Permitting Regulations (PDF, 175KB)
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 7 – Voluntary remediation of land (PDF, 174KB) 
• Radioactive Contaminated Land Briefing Note 8 – Radiation Protection Principles (PDF, 284KB)

Guidance

We have produced guidance to help local authorities to carry out the initial stages of inspection of potential radioactive contaminated land sites: