Section Menu

• Nuclear Safety Contacts

Nuclear Safety Regulation

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), through its Nuclear Installations Inspectorate (NII), regulates nuclear safety under licences with conditions covering the design, construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear installations.

The nuclear industry is subject to the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (and subordinated legislation including the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 providing for nuclear site licensing) which places general duties on employers and others in charge of premises to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees and that their activities do not expose other persons to health and safety risks, also enforced in the case of the nuclear industry by the HSE.

The Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999 (see 'External Links'), which apply at licensed and other sites using ionising radiation, require employers to keep workers and public exposure to radiation as low as reasonably practicable, and to comply with maximum exposure limits. The statutory maximum level for a worker is now 20 mSv per annum. For all others, including members of the public, it is 1mSv per annum. However, in practice doses received by most workers and by the public are much lower than the statutory maximum.