Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 45.2 > Subtitle V > Chapter 21 - Nuclear Energy

• Abandoned: means no longer in service and physically disconnected from a portion of the underground utility line that is in use for storage or conveyance of service. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Act of violence: means those felony offenses described in subsection C of § 17. See Virginia Code 18.2-46.1
• Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Authority: means the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium Authority established pursuant to this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-2100
• Board: means the board of directors of the Authority. See Virginia Code 45.2-2100
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Civil forfeiture: The loss of ownership of property used to conduct illegal activity.
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Consortium: means the Virginia Nuclear Energy Consortium established by the Authority pursuant to § 45. See Virginia Code 45.2-2100
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract locator: means any person contracted by an operator specifically to determine the approximate horizontal location of the operator's utility lines that may exist within the area specified by a locate request. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Criminal street gang: means any ongoing organization, association, or group of three or more persons, whether formal or informal, (i) which has as one of its primary objectives or activities the commission of one or more criminal activities; (ii) which has an identifiable name or identifying sign or symbol; and (iii) whose members individually or collectively have engaged in the commission of, attempt to commit, conspiracy to commit, or solicitation of two or more predicate criminal acts, at least one of which is an act of violence, provided such acts were not part of a common act or transaction. See Virginia Code 18.2-46.1
• Damage: means any impact upon or removal of support from an underground facility as a result of excavation or demolition which according to the operating practices of the operator would necessitate the repair of such facility. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
• demolition: means any operation by which a structure or mass of material is wrecked, razed, rendered, moved, or removed by means of any tools, equipment, or discharge of explosives which could damage underground utility lines. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Designer: means any licensed professional designated by the project owner who designs government projects, commercial projects, residential projects consisting of 25 or more units, or industrial projects, which projects require the approval of governmental or regulatory authorities having jurisdiction over the project area. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Emergency: means a sudden or unexpected occurrence involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to, life, health, property, or essential public services. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• excavation: means any operation in which earth, rock, or other material in the ground is moved, removed, or otherwise displaced by means of any tools, equipment, or explosives and includes, without limitation, grading, trenching, digging, ditching, dredging, drilling, augering, tunneling, scraping, cable or pipe plowing and driving, wrecking, razing, rendering, moving, or removing any structure or mass of material. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Exigent circumstances: means circumstances outside of an operator's or contract locator's, as described in subsection D of § 56-265. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Exploration activity: means and is limited to the drilling of test holes or stratigraphic or core holes of a depth in excess of 50 feet for the purpose of determining the location, quantity, or quality of uranium ore. See Virginia Code 45.2-2108
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. ^{Source: OCC}
• Hand digging: means any excavation involving nonmechanized tools or equipment. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Indictment: The formal charge issued by a grand jury stating that there is enough evidence that the defendant committed the crime to justify having a trial; it is used primarily for felonies.
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Locate request: means the completed delivery of information to the notification center requesting markings for a specified area of excavation or demolition and receipt of the same by the notification center in accordance with this chapter. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Mail: includes electronic mail and other forms of electronic communication when the customer has requested or authorized electronic bill delivery or other electronic communications. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Member: means a member of the Consortium. See Virginia Code 45.2-2100
• notification: means the completed delivery of information to the person to be notified, and the receipt of same by such person in accordance with this chapter. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Notification center: means an organization whose membership is open to all operators of underground facilities located within the notification center's designated service area, which maintains a data base, provided by its member operators, that includes the geographic areas in which its member operators desire transmissions of notices of proposed excavation, and which has the capability to transmit, within one hour of receipt, notices of proposed excavation to member operators by electronic means. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Operator: means any person who owns, furnishes or transports materials or services by means of a utility line. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Person: means any individual, firm, corporation, partnership, association, or other legal entity. See Virginia Code 45.2-2108
• Person: means any individual, operator, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, association, municipality, or other political subdivision, governmental unit, department or agency, and includes any trustee, receiver, assignee, or personal representative thereof. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Personal representative: includes the executor of a will or the administrator of the estate of a decedent, the administrator of such estate with the will annexed, the administrator of such estate unadministered by a former representative, whether there is a will or not, any person who is under the order of a circuit court to take into his possession the estate of a decedent for administration, and every other curator of a decedent's estate, for or against whom suits may be brought for causes of action that accrued to or against the decedent. See Virginia Code 1-234
• Positive response: means a code or phrase posted by an operator or locator to the notification center detailing the marking status of a locate request. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Positive response system: means the excavator-operator information exchange system that is required by subsection E of § 56-265. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Predicate criminal act: means (i) an act of violence; (ii) any violation of § 18. See Virginia Code 18.2-46.1
• Private sewer lateral: means a privately owned, legally authorized utility line that transports wastewater from one or more buildings to a sewer system utility line owned by a sewer system operator. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Sewer system: means a system of utility lines used for conveying wastewater, and includes sewer system laterals but does not include private sewer laterals. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Sewer system lateral: means a lateral utility line located in the public right-of-way or public sewer easement, owned by a sewer system operator, and used to transport wastewater to the operator's main sewer line. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Sewer system operator: means an operator of a sewer system. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
• Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• United States: includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-255
• Usable quality water: means groundwater that is used or can be used for a beneficial purpose, including a domestic, livestock, or irrigation use. See Virginia Code 45.2-2108
• Utility line: means any item of public or private property which is buried or placed below ground or submerged for use in connection with the storage or conveyance of water, sewage, telecommunications, electric energy, cable television, oil, petroleum products, gas, or other substances, and includes pipes, sewers, combination storm/sanitary sewer systems, conduits, cables, valves, lines, wires, manholes, attachments, and those portions of poles below ground. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Water system: means a system of utility lines used for supplying water, and does not include private water laterals. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Water system operator: means an operator of a water system. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Willful: means an act done intentionally, knowingly, and purposely, without justifiable excuse, as distinguished from an act done carelessly, thoughtlessly, heedlessly or inadvertently. See Virginia Code 56-265.15
• Working day: means every day, except Saturdays, Sundays, and legal state and national holidays. See Virginia Code 56-265.15