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Radioactive contaminated land

Information about the modification of the contaminated land legislation to include radioactive contaminated land. This includes briefing notes and FAQs.

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:

Guidance

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