Unless a different meaning is required by the context, the following terms as used in this Chapter shall have the meanings hereinafter respectively ascribed to them:

(1) “Agreement materials” means those materials licensed by the State under agreement with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission and which include by-product, source or special nuclear materials in a quantity not sufficient to form a critical mass, as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended.

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(2) “Agreement state” means any state which has consummated an agreement with the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission under the authority of section 274 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 as amended, as authorized by compatible state legislation providing for acceptance by that state of licensing authority for agreement materials and the discontinuance of such licensing activities by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

(3) “Atomic energy” means all forms of energy released in the course of nuclear fission or nuclear fusion or other atomic transformations.

(4) “By-product material” means any radioactive material, except special nuclear material, yielded in or made radioactive by exposure to the radiation incident to the process of producing or utilizing special nuclear material.

(5) “Commission” means the Radiation Protection Commission.

(6) “Department” means the Department of Health and Human Services.

(7) “Emergency” means any condition existing outside the bounds of nuclear operating sites owned or licensed by a federal agency, and further any condition existing within or outside of the jurisdictional confines of a facility licensed by the Department and arising from the presence of by-product material, source material, special nuclear materials, or other radioactive materials, which is endangering or could reasonably be expected to endanger the health and safety of the public, or to contaminate the environment.

(7a) “Engineered barrier” means a man-made structure or device that is intended to improve a disposal facility’s ability to meet (i) the performance objectives of Subpart C, Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 61 in effect on 1 January 1987, (ii) other requirements set out in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 104E-25, and (iii) requirements of rules adopted by the Commission under this Chapter.

(8) “General license” means a license effective pursuant to regulations promulgated under the provisions of this Chapter without the filing of an application to transfer, acquire, own, possess, or use quantities of, or devices or equipment utilizing by-product, source, special nuclear materials, or other radioactive materials occurring naturally or produced artificially.

(9) “Ionizing radiation” means gamma rays and x-rays, alpha and beta particles, high speed electrons, protons, neutrons, and other nuclear particles; but not sound or radio waves, or visible, infrared, or ultraviolet light.

(9a) “Low-level radioactive waste” means low-level radioactive waste as defined in the Low-Level Radioactive Waste Policy Amendments Act of 1985, Pub. L. 99-240, 99 Stat. 1842, 42 U.S.C. § 2021b et seq. and other waste, including waste containing naturally occurring and accelerator produced radioactive material, which is not regulated by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission or other agency of the federal government and which is determined to be low-level radioactive waste by the North Carolina Radiation Protection Commission.

(9b) “Low-level radioactive waste facility” means a facility for the storage, collection, processing, treatment, recycling, recovery, or disposal of low-level radioactive waste.

(9c) “Low-level radioactive waste disposal facility” means any low-level radioactive waste facility or any portion of such facility, including land, buildings, and equipment, which is used or intended to be used for the disposal of low-level radioactive waste on or in land in accordance with rules promulgated under this Chapter.

(10) “Nonionizing radiation” means radiation in any portion of the electromagnetic spectrum not defined as ionizing radiation, including, but not limited to, such sources as laser, maser or microwave devices.

(11) “Person” means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm, association, trust, estate, public or private institution, group, agency, political subdivision of this State, any other state or political subdivision or agency thereof, and any legal successor, representative, agent, or agency of the foregoing, other than the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor thereto, and other than federal government agencies licensed by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor thereto.

(12) “Radiation” means gamma rays and x-rays, alpha and beta particles, high speed electrons, protons, neutrons, and other nuclear particles, and electromagnetic radiation consisting of associated and interacting electric and magnetic waves including those with frequencies between three times 10 to the eighth power cycles per second and three times 10 to the twenty-fourth power cycles per second and wavelengths between one times 10 to the minus fourteenth power centimeters and 100 centimeters.

(13) “Radiation machine” means any device designed to produce or which produces radiation or nuclear particles when the associated control devices of the machine are operated.

(14) “Radioactive material” means any solid, liquid, or gas which emits ionizing radiation spontaneously.

(14a) “Shallow land burial” means disposal of low-level radioactive waste in subsurface trenches without the additional confinement of the waste as described in N.C. Gen. Stat. § 104E-25

(14b) “Secretary” means the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

(15) “Source material” means (i) uranium, thorium, or any other material which the Department declares to be source material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor thereto has determined the material to be such; or (ii) ores containing one or more of the foregoing materials, in such concentration as the Department declares to be source material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor thereto, has determined the material in such concentration to be source material.

(16) “Special nuclear material” means (i) plutonium, uranium 233, uranium 235, uranium enriched in the isotope 233 or in the isotope 235, and any other material which the Department declares to be special nuclear material after the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or any successor thereto, has determined the material to be such, but does not include source material; or (ii) any material artificially enriched by any of the foregoing, but does not include source material.

(17) “Specific license” means a license, issued after application, to use, manufacture, produce, transfer, receive, acquire, own or process quantities of, or devices or equipment utilizing by-product, source, special nuclear materials, or other radioactive materials occurring naturally or produced artificially. Nothing in this Chapter shall require the licensing of individual natural persons involved in the use of radiation machines or radioactive materials for medical diagnosis or treatment.

(18) Repealed by Session Laws 1987, c. 850, s. 3. (1975, c. 718, s. 1; 1981, c. 704, s. 8; 1987, c. 633, ss. 1-4; c. 850, s. 3; 1989, c. 727, s. 219(16); 1993, c. 501, s. 2.1; 1995, c. 504, s. 4; 1997-443, s. 11A.119(a); 2011-145, s. 13.3(ccc); 2015-241, s. 14.30(v); 2015-264, s. 54(a).)