To conduct a regulated activity, a person generally must be authorised by an Australian naval nuclear power safety licence, and comply with the conditions of the licence (see sections 19, 23 and 25 of the Act for the offences and civil penalty provisions relating to this).
If a Commonwealth‑related person makes an application for a licence under section 28 of the Act, the Regulator may under section 31 of the Act issue, or refuse to issue, the licence to the person.
Under section 31 of the Act, in deciding whether to issue a licence, the Regulator must be satisfied:
(a) that the applicant will be able to comply with the conditions of the licence; and
(b) of any matter prescribed by the regulations.
The Regulator must also take into account:
(a) international best practice in relation to nuclear safety that is relevant to naval nuclear propulsion; and
(b) any matter prescribed by the regulations.
Division 2 of this Part prescribes matters that the Regulator must be satisfied of, or take into account, in deciding whether to issue a licence to authorise a facility activity or a material activity. The matters may be prescribed:
(a) for all such licences (this is set out in Subdivision A); or
(b) only for licences authorising facility activities or a particular kind of facility activity (this is set out in Subdivision B); or
(c) only for licences authorising material activities (this is set out in Subdivision C).
If the Regulator is required to be satisfied of, or take into account, a matter, there may be:
(a) a related requirement in Part 2 for the applicant to provide information or documents; and
(b) a related licence condition in Part 4.
40 Matters the Regulator must be satisfied of or take into account in issuing licence authorising facility activity or material activity
For the purposes of subparagraphs 31(2)(a)(ii) and 31(2)(b)(ii) of the Act:
(a) the matters the Regulator must be satisfied of; and
(b) the matters the Regulator must take into account;
in deciding whether to issue a licence to authorise a facility activity or material activity are the matters prescribed by this Part for a licence to authorise that kind of facility activity or material activity.
Division 2—Matters to be satisfied of or taken into account
Subdivision A—Licence authorising any kind of facility activity or material activity
41 General matters the Regulator must be satisfied of
(1) This section applies to a licence to authorise any kind of facility activity or material activity.
General
(2) The Regulator must be satisfied that:
(a) the application contains the information and is accompanied by the documents required by Division 2 of Part 2; and
(b) the applicant has given any further information required by the Regulator under subsection 30A(1) of the Act (see section 38 of this instrument); and
(c) the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed licence holder would ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, nuclear safety when conducting the regulated activity; and
(d) the applicant has demonstrated that the proposed licence holder would be able to comply with the other nuclear safety duties that would apply to the licence holder under Division 2 of Part 2 of the Act; and
(e) the applicant has demonstrated that the systems, arrangements and plans described and documented in the application or a document accompanying the application (see subsection 21(2) and section 22 of this instrument) would be appropriate for their purpose; and
(f) the applicant has demonstrated that all of the following, in relation to the conduct of the regulated activity, would be kept as low as reasonably achievable taking into account economic and societal factors:
(i) the magnitude of individual doses;
(ii) the number of people who are exposed;
(iii) the likelihood of incurring exposures to ionising radiation and harmful non‑ionising radiation; and
(g) the persons, or class of persons, to be authorised to conduct the regulated activity would, so far as reasonably practicable, have appropriate expertise, training and information to ensure the nuclear safety of the regulated activity; and
(h) if it is reasonably foreseeable that:
(i) any other high risk activities or material would be, or could be, conducted or located in, or near, the designated zone in which the regulated activity may be conducted under the licence; and
(ii) those activities or materials could reasonably pose additional risks to the nuclear safety of the regulated activity;
the measures (as proposed at the time of making the decision to issue the licence) to mitigate that additional risk ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that additional risk is mitigated; and
(i) the activity would be adequately and appropriately insured.
Radiation monitoring boundaries and exclusion zones
(3) The Regulator must be satisfied that the boundaries to be set (as proposed at the time of making the decision to issue the licence) for the radiation monitoring of the regulated activity would ensure nuclear safety.
Note 1: For the information and documents that the applicant must provide that are relevant to this subsection: see section 20.
Note 2: The licence, if issued, would be subject to a condition that radiation monitoring is undertaken within set boundaries in accordance with the radiation protection plan for the activity: see subsection 59(2).
(4) The Regulator must be satisfied that the exclusion zones to be set around the boundary of the area in which the regulated activity would be conducted (as proposed at the time of making the decision to issue the licence):
(a) would ensure nuclear safety; and
(b) would be enforced throughout the proposed period of the licence.
Note 1: For the information and documents that the applicant must provide that are relevant to this subsection: see section 20.
Note 2: The licence, if issued, would be subject to a condition that the exclusion zones are enforced: see subsection 59(4).
42 General matters the Regulator must take into account
The Regulator must take into account the following matters in deciding whether to issue a licence to authorise any kind of facility activity or material activity:
(a) whether the applicant has demonstrated that the interaction between technical, human and organisational factors in the management of nuclear safety has been considered in relation to the conduct of the activity;
(b) whether the applicant has demonstrated that international best practice in relation to nuclear safety that is relevant to naval nuclear propulsion has been considered in the development of the proposed nuclear safety management system for the activity, and the proposed arrangements and plans for the activity, that would be required under section 60;
(c) the analysis of the radiological consequences to the surrounding environment from a reference incident at the site of the activity, provided under paragraph 16(e);
(d) any technical authorities or standards, that the Regulator is aware of, that:
(i) address measures to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, nuclear safety; and
(ii) would apply in relation to the conduct of the activity if the licence is issued;
(e) any other proposed policies or procedures for the conduct of the activity that the Regulator is aware of;
(f) any other design and operational limits and conditions (actual or proposed) of any infrastructure, plant, equipment, information technology, radiation monitoring boundaries, systems, components, or warning devices proposed to be involved in the conduct of the activity that the Regulator is aware of;
(g) any other matters the Regulator considers relevant.
Note: For the purposes of paragraph (b), the applicant must provide information that describes how international best practice in relation to nuclear safety that is relevant to naval nuclear propulsion has been considered in the development of the system, arrangements and plans: see subsection 21(3).