Our team

SEPA's radioactive substances staff work across a range of activities, including site inspections and support, policy and guidance, monitoring and assessment.

Sites

Our Radioactive Substances (RS) Specialist Inspectors based in Aberdeen, Dingwall, East Kilbride and Edinburgh deal with a range of sites, including:

  • North Sea offshore installations
  • Torness nuclear power station
  • Rosyth Royal Dockyard
  • HM Naval Base Rosyth
  • Chapelcross nuclear power station
  • Hunterston A and B nuclear power stations
  • HM Naval Base Clyde (Faslane and Coulport)
  • The Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC)
  • Non nuclear users (eg hospitals, universities, industrial sites)
  • Dounreay site (including the proposed low level waste facilities)

Policy and guidance

RS Policy Officers in our corporate office in Stirling respond to consultations about new legislation and policies that involve radioactive substances. They are also responsible for providing:

  • decommissioning principles and policies 
  • input into waste management policy
  • guidance and interpretation of Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO)        
  • guidance and interpretation of Best Practicable Means (BPM)       
  • input into the Oslo/Paris convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR)
  • input into the National Discharge Strategy           
  • methodologies to assess the impact of waste disposal     
  • information on low specific activity scale/naturally occurring radioactive material     
  • advice to the Scottish Government on the EURATOM (European Atomic Energy Community) Treaty, article 37 submissions     
  • advice for the transfrontier shipment of radioactive materials and waste
  • input into forums on environmental crime relating to radioactivity    
  • advice on being prepared for nuclear emergencies
  • readiness of the Radiological Incident Monitoring Network (RIMNET) system          
  • chairing the Scottish non nuclear industry liaison group    
  • input into Radioactive Substances Act (RSA) review procedures    
  • input into the RSA Charging Scheme      

For links on the legislation and policy SEPA implements, visit: RS legislation and policy

Monitoring and assessment

RS Policy Officers in our corporate office in Stirling also assess the impact of radioactivity in the environment. Their activities include:

  • developing an environmental monitoring programme for radioactivity
  • publishing Radioactivity in the food and environment (RIFE) reports
  • project managing the habitats survey programme
  • maintaining the Radiological Monitoring Database
  • reporting data to the European Commission and to the Oslo/Paris convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North-East Atlantic (OSPAR)
  • carrying our radioactive dose assessment and developing methodology
  • assessing radioactively contaminated land