This section contains information about our regulation of the nuclear industry.
A complex industry surrounds nuclear power stations, to manage and support their work. It includes businesses that make fuel for power stations and those managing the radioactive waste they produce.
As well as power stations we also have nuclear reactors powering Royal Navy submarines and some nuclear weapons are also manufactured in the UK.
There are 34 licensed nuclear sites in England and Wales. They are regularly inspected by the Health and Safety Executive, who are in charge of regulating all aspects of nuclear safety on them.
Our role and responsibilities
We oversee how the 34 sites dispose of their radioactive waste by granting site authorisations to the operators who run them.
Operators of these sites must have an authorisation from us to dispose of their waste. These authorisations set out limits and conditions on the amount and way they dispose of their waste and cover all radioactive waste disposals including discharges to air and water, and transfers of wastes for incineration or disposal to land.
It is also our responsibility to check up on sites to ensure they're not exceeding their limits and releasing as little radioactive waste as possible into the environment.
