The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), through its Office for Nuclear Regulation (ONR), regulates nuclear safety under licences, with conditions covering the design, construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of nuclear installations.
The nuclear industry is subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (and subordinated legislation, including the Nuclear Installations Act 1965). These place general duties on employers and others in charge of a premises to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of their employees, and that their activities do not expose other people to health and safety risks.
The Ionising Radiations Regulations 1999, which apply to licensed and other sites using ionising radiation, require employers to keep workers and public exposure to radiation as low as reasonably practicable, and to comply with maximum exposure limits. The statutory maximum level for a worker is now 20 mSv per annum. For all others, including members of the public, it is 1mSv per annum. However, the doses most workers and the public actually receive are much lower than the statutory maximum.