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<law><site_title>Virginia Decoded</site_title><site_url>https://vacode.org</site_url><law_id>68889</law_id><section_number>32.1-227</section_number><catch_line>Definitions</catch_line><edition url="https://vacode.org/2025/" slug="2025" current="TRUE" last_updated="">2025</edition><structure><unit label="title" level="1" order_by="1" identifier="32.1">Health</unit><unit label="chapter" level="2" order_by="1" identifier="6">Environmental Health Services</unit><unit label="article" level="3" order_by="1" identifier="8">Radiation Control</unit></structure><text>
						<section><p>As used in this article unless the context requires a different meaning:</p></section>
						<section id="1"><p><span class="prefix-number">1.</span> &#x201C;By-product material&#x201D; means:
			a. Any <span class="dictionary">radioactive material</span>, except <span class="dictionary">special nuclear material</span>, yielded in or made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or utilizing <span class="dictionary">special nuclear material</span>;
			b. The tailings or wastes produced by the extraction or concentration of uranium or thorium from any ore processed primarily of its <span class="dictionary">source material</span> content;
			c. Any discrete source of radium-226 that is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity;
			d. Any material that has been made radioactive by use of a particle accelerator and is produced, extracted, or converted after extraction for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity; and
			e. Any discrete source of naturally occurring <span class="dictionary">radioactive material</span> (NORM), other than <span class="dictionary">source material</span> that the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), in consultation with the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Secretary of Energy, the Secretary of Homeland Security, and the head of any other appropriate federal agency, determines would pose a threat similar to the threat posed by a discrete source of radium-226 to the public health and safety or the common defense and security, that is extracted, or converted after extraction, for use for a commercial, medical, or research activity. <a id="paragraph-249367" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#1"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="2"><p><span class="prefix-number">2.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">General license</span>&#x201D; means a license effective under regulations promulgated by the <span class="dictionary">Board</span> without the filing of an application with the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> or the issuance of licensing documents to particular <span class="dictionary">persons</span> to transfer, acquire, own, possess, or use quantities of, or devices or equipment utilizing, <span class="dictionary">radioactive material</span>. <a id="paragraph-249368" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#2"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="3"><p><span class="prefix-number">3.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Ionizing radiation</span>&#x201D; means gamma rays and X-rays, alpha and beta particles, high-speed electrons, neutrons, protons, and other nuclear particles. <a id="paragraph-249369" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#3"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="4"><p><span class="prefix-number">4.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Person</span>&#x201D; means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group, <span class="dictionary">department</span> of the Commonwealth other than the <span class="dictionary">Department</span> of Health, political subdivision of the Commonwealth, any other state or political subdivision or <span class="dictionary">department</span> thereof, and any legal successor, representative, agent, or <span class="dictionary">department</span> of the foregoing, but not including federal government agencies. <a id="paragraph-249370" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#4"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="5"><p><span class="prefix-number">5.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Radiation emergency</span>&#x201D; means any situation, excluding events resulting from nuclear warfare, which involves the possibility of accidental release of <span class="dictionary">ionizing radiation</span> that may pose a threat to the safety and health of any citizen of this Commonwealth. <a id="paragraph-249371" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#5"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="6"><p><span class="prefix-number">6.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Radioactive material</span>&#x201D; means any material that emits <span class="dictionary">ionizing radiation</span> spontaneously. <a id="paragraph-249372" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#6"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="7"><p><span class="prefix-number">7.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Source material</span>&#x201D; means uranium or thorium, or any combination thereof, in any physical or chemical form; or ores that contain by weight one-twentieth of one percent (0.05 percent) or more of uranium, thorium, or any combination thereof. <span class="dictionary">Source material</span> does not include <span class="dictionary">special nuclear material</span>. <a id="paragraph-249373" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#7"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="8"><p><span class="prefix-number">8.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Special nuclear material</span>&#x201D; means (i) plutonium, uranium 233, uranium enriched in the isotope 233 or in the isotope 235, and any other material which the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission or any successor thereto has determined to be such but does not include <span class="dictionary">source material</span>; or (ii) any material artificially enriched by any of the foregoing but not including <span class="dictionary">source material</span>. <a id="paragraph-249374" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#8"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section>
						<section id="9"><p><span class="prefix-number">9.</span> &#x201C;<span class="dictionary">Specific license</span>&#x201D; means a license, issued to a named <span class="dictionary">person</span> upon application filed under the regulations promulgated pursuant to this article, to use, manufacture, produce, transfer, receive, acquire, or possess quantities of, or devices or equipment utilizing, <span class="dictionary">radioactive material</span>. <a id="paragraph-249375" class="section-permalink" href="https://vacode.org/32.1-227/#9"><i class="fa fa-link"/></a></p></section></text><history>Code 1950, &#xA7; 32-414.3; 1964, c. 158; 1975, c. 563; 1979, c. 711; 2008, cc. 41, 466.</history><metadata></metadata></law>
