I. SALTER, P. ROBINSON, M. FREEMAN and J. JAGASIA, Burges Salmon LLP, UK

Abstract: This chapter analyses how the environmental impacts of nuclear new build are taken into account in government policy, planning decisions and the regulation of plants at all stages in their lifecycles, summarises the legal regime that underpins the requirement for strategic environmental assessments and environmental impact assessments, and considers the key features of land use planning systems and regulatory systems and the role that they play in the control of environmental impacts.

Keywords: strategic environmental assessment, environmental impact assessment, land use planning, environmental regulation, nuclear new build.

17.1 Introduction

The risk of harm to the natural and human environment associated with nuclear installations is undeniably significant, and thus requires proper management. Uncontrolled discharges of radioactive waste will necessarily cause chemical and biological disruption to local ecology and biodiversity, unregulated exposure to radiation is medically proven to pose risks to human health, and the severe environmental consequences of incidents such as Three Mile Island (United States, 1979) and Chernobyl (Soviet Union (Ukraine), 1986) have demonstrated that nuclear operations can have significant implications for internal relations. As a result, there has been long-standing social and political opposition to the development of new nuclear installations on the basis of environmental impacts. The recent events at the Fukushima Daiichi No.1 nuclear plant (Japan, 2011) have served as a stark reminder of the risks associated with nuclear installations, and many countries around the world have paused to reflect on their own national nuclear programmes.

In order to recognise and address these concerns, legal systems, national, supranational and international, have had to develop and evolve suitable processes and mechanisms to ensure not only that the safety of nuclear installations is maximised, but also that the public has the fullest confidence that a thorough consideration of environmental impacts has been fully integrated in the development and planning process. Many jurisdictions now reflect certain internationally accepted legal mechanisms, the primary function of which is to ensure that national public authorities carry out a series of environmental assessments before a decision is taken as to whether to authorise the development of new installations. These assessments will identify the likely environmental impacts of the project, and suggest ways of mitigating these impacts. In addition, the land use planning system is employed in most civil nuclear jurisdictions to decide whether or not new developments should be approved. Amongst other things, planning bodies will take into account the findings of environmental assessments (and other environmental impacts brought to their attention) in their decisions and the resulting conditions that are imposed on successful applicants.

This chapter aims to identify the key procedural and substantive aspects of two types of environmental assessment, and then to demonstrate how environmental impacts associated with nuclear installations are reflected by national planning authorities in their decision making and subsequently regulated throughout the life of an installation.