As used in this article, unless the context requires a different meaning: “Applicant” means the person applying for a certification of site suitability or submitting a notice of intent to apply therefor. “Application” means an application to the Board for a certification of site suitability. “Certification of site suitability” or “certification” means the certification issued by the Board pursuant to this chapter. “Criteria” means the criteria adopted by the Board, pursuant to § 10.1-1436. “Fund” means the Technical Assistance Fund created pursuant to § 10.1-1448. “Hazardous waste facility” or “facility” means any facility, including land and structures, appurtenances, improvements and equipment for the treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous wastes, which accepts hazardous waste for storage, treatment or disposal. For the purposes of this article, it does not include: (i) facilities which are owned and operated by and exclusively for the on-site treatment, storage or disposal of wastes generated by the owner or operator; (ii) facilities for the treatment, storage or disposal of hazardous wastes used principally as fuels in an on-site production process; (iii) facilities used exclusively for the pretreatment of wastes discharged directly to a publicly owned sewage treatment works. “Hazardous waste management facility permit” means the permit for a hazardous waste management facility issued by the Director or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “Host community” means any county, city or town within whose jurisdictional boundaries construction of a hazardous waste facility is proposed. “On-site” means facilities that are located on the same or geographically contiguous property which may be divided by public or private right-of-way, and the entrance and exit between the contiguous properties is at a cross-roads intersection so that the access is by crossing, as opposed to going along, the right-of-way. On-site also means noncontiguous properties owned by the same person but connected by a right-of-way which the owner controls and to which the public does not have access. “Operator” means a person who is responsible for the overall operation of a facility. “Owner” means a person who owns a facility or a part of a facility. “Storage” means the containment or holding of hazardous wastes pending treatment, recycling, reuse, recovery or disposal. “Treatment” means any method, technique or process, including incineration or neutralization, designed to change the physical, chemical or biological character or composition of any hazardous waste to neutralize it or to render it less hazardous or nonhazardous, safer for transport, amenable to recovery or storage or reduced in volume.