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Nuclear Energy Act, 1999 (Act No. 46 of 1999)

Chapter I Introductory Provisions

1. Definitions

 

In this Act, unless the context indicates otherwise—

 

"Atomic Energy Corporation"

means the Atomic Energy Corporation, Ltd contemplated in section 4(1) of the Nuclear Energy Act, 1993 (Act No. 131 of 1993);

 

"Board"

means the Board of Directors of the Corporation as provided for in section 16;

 

"chief executive officer"

means the chief executive officer of the Corporation contemplated in section 22;

 

"Companies Act"

means the Companies Act, 1973 (Act No. 61 of 1973);

 

"Corporation"

means the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation, Limited, established by section 3;

 

"Department"

means the Department of Minerals and Energy;

 

"director"

means a member of the Board;

 

"Director-General"

means the Director-General of the Department of Minerals and Energy;

 

"disposed of"

used in the context of safeguards means sell, exchange, donate, distribute, lend or in any other manner transfer and "disposal of" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"enrich"

means to increase the ratio of an isotopic constituent of an element to the remaining isotopic constituents of that element relative to the naturally occurring ratio, and "enrichment" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"inspector"

means a person appointed in terms of section 53(1);

 

"institutional obligations"

means the obligations of the Republic in terms of international agreements or in the national or public interest concerning matters arising from or otherwise involving the use of nuclear energy, such as—

(a) the decommissioning and decontamination of past strategic nuclear facilities;
(b) the management of nuclear waste disposal on a national basis;
(c) the application of radiation technology for medical or scientific purposes;
(d) the operation of the SAFARI nuclear reactor;
(e) the operation of the Atomic Energy Corporation’s site at Pelindaba and accompanying services;
(f) the implementation and execution of the safeguards function with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, the African Co-operative Agreement, the Treaty of Pelindaba or any other treaty, agreement or protocol.

 

"invention"

means an invention as defined in section 2 of the Patents Act, 1978, (Act No. 57 of 1978);

 

"ionizing radiation"

means electromagnetic or corpuscular emission emitted from radioactive material and capable of producing ions, directly or indirectly, while passing through matter;

 

"Minister"

means the Minister of Minerals and Energy;

 

"nuclear energy"

means all the energy released by a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion process;

 

"nuclear fuel"

means any material capable of undergoing a nuclear fission or nuclear fusion process on its own or in combination with some other material and which is produced in a nuclear fuel assembly or other configuration;

 

"nuclear installation"

means a nuclear installation as defined in section 1 of the National Nuclear Regulator Act, 1999;

 

"nuclear material"

means source material and special nuclear material;

 

"Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty"

means the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons acceded to by the Republic on 10 July 1991;

 

"nuclear-related equipment and material"

means equipment and material declared under section 2(f) to be nuclear-related equipment and material;

 

"plant"

includes any machinery, equipment or device, whether attached to the ground or not;

 

"prescribed"

means prescribed by regulation;

 

"previous Act"

means the Nuclear Energy Act, 1993 (Act No. 131 of 1993);

 

"process"

when used as a verb in relation to source material, special nuclear material and restricted material, means to extract or recover such a material or to concentrate, refine or convert it in any manner without enriching it, and "processing" has a corresponding meaning;

 

"radioactive material"

means any substance consisting of, or containing, any radioactive nuclide, whether natural or artificial;

 

"radioactive nuclide"

means an unstable atomic nucleus which decays spontaneously with the accompanying emission of ionizing radiation;

 

"radioactive waste"

means any radioactive material destined to be disposed of as waste material;

 

"regulation"

means any regulation in force under section 54;

 

"reprocess"

means to extract or separate, from source material or special nuclear material that has been subjected to radiation, the constituents that have undergone transmutations as a result of the radiation, or the constituents that have not undergone those transmutations and are re-usable;

 

"restricted act or activity"

means any of the acts or activities mentioned in-

a) paragraphs (c) to (u) of section 34(1); and

 

"restricted material"

means beryllium and zirconium and any other substance declared under section 2(a) to be restricted material;

 

"restricted matter"

means any or all of the following, namely—

(a) source material;
(b) special nuclear material;
(c) restricted material;
(d) uranium hexafluoride (UF6);
(e) nuclear fuel; and
(f) nuclear-related equipment and material;

 

"SAFARI nuclear reactor"

means the South African Fundamental Atomic Research Installation located at the Atomic Energy Corporation’s Pelindaba site, in North West Province;

 

"Safeguards Agreement"

means the comprehensive safeguards agreement entered into on 16 September 1991 between the Republic and the International Atomic Energy Agency with regard to the application of safeguards for the purposes of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty pursuant to the Republic’s accession to that Treaty on 10 July 1991;

 

"site"

means a site as defined in section 1 of the National Nuclear Regulator Act, 1999, for which a nuclear authorisation as defined in that Act is required;

 

"source material"

means any material declared under section 2(b) to be source material;

 

"special nuclear material"

means any material declared under section 2(c) to be special nuclear material;

 

"specified date"

means the date referred to in section 61;

 

"storage facility"

means a facility for the acceptance, handling and treatment of irradiated fuel and the storage thereof;

 

"subsidiary company"

means a "subsidiary company" contemplated in section 1 of the Companies Act, 1973 (Act No. 61 of 1973), and which has been established by the Corporation, either alone or in association with any other person;

 

"this Act"

includes any regulations; and

 

"waste disposal facility"

means a facility for the acceptance, handling, storage and treatment of radioactive waste and irradiated fuel and the disposal of radioactive waste.