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International Nuclear Law: Nuclear Safety, Emergency Response and Nuclear Liability

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Asia-Pacific Disaster Management

Abstract

International law seeks to address concerns relating to the non-peaceful use of nuclear energy, nuclear security, nuclear safety and the potential transboundary consequences of nuclear accidents relating to civilian nuclear power reactors. This chapter outlines the primary international treaties applicable to civilian nuclear power reactors. It discusses some of the international initiatives that are underway to address lessons learned from the events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, which provide renewed impetus promoting widespread adherence to, and further strengthening and implementation of, the international treaties and conventions in the field of nuclear power.

The views expressed in this work are personal to the author and do not express the views of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See generally: Joyner (2009), Joyner (2011), Njølstad (2011), and Bellany et al. (1985).

  2. 2.

    IAEA (2007).

  3. 3.

    The Convention on Nuclear Safety is limited to the safety of ‘nuclear installations’, defined as ‘any land-based civil nuclear power plant under [the] jurisdiction [of Contracting Parties] including such storage, handling and treatment facilities for radioactive materials as are on the same site and are directly related to the operation of the nuclear power plant’: Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 2(i).

  4. 4.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 4.

  5. 5.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 7.

  6. 6.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 8.

  7. 7.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 8.

  8. 8.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 10.

  9. 9.

    US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Safety Culture Policy Statement, NUREG/BR-0500. The IAEA defines ‘nuclear safety culture’ as ‘[t]hat assembly of characteristics and attitudes in organisations and individuals which establishes that, as an overriding priority, nuclear power plant safety issues receive the highest attention warranted by their significance’: IAEA (1991).

  10. 10.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 9.

  11. 11.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 13.

  12. 12.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 12.

  13. 13.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 18 (specifically the ‘design and construction of a nuclear installation [to] provid[e] for several reliable levels and methods of protection (defense in depth) against the release of radioactive materials, with a view to preventing the occurrence of accidents and to mitigating their radiological consequences should they occur’).

  14. 14.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 16.

  15. 15.

    Joint Convention, Art. 3.

  16. 16.

    Joint Convention, Art. 1.

  17. 17.

    Article 4 provides that:

    … each Contracting Party shall take the appropriate steps to:

    1. (i)

      ensure that criticality and removal of residual heat generated during spent fuel management are adequately addressed;

    2. (ii)

      ensure that the generation of radioactive waste associated with spent fuel management is kept to the minimum practicable, consistent with the type of fuel cycle policy adopted;

    3. (iii)

      take into account interdependencies among the different steps in spent fuel management;

    4. (iv)

      provide for effective protection of individuals, society and the environment, by applying at the national level suitable protective methods as approved by the regulatory body, in the framework of its national legislation which has due regard to internationally endorsed criteria and standards;

    5. (v)

      take into account the biological, chemical and other hazards that may be associated with spent fuel management;

    6. (vi)

      strive to avoid actions that impose reasonably predictable impacts on future generations greater than those permitted for the current generation;

    7. (vii)

      aim to avoid imposing undue burdens on future generations.

  18. 18.

    Joint Convention, Art. 17.

  19. 19.

    Joint Convention, Art. 10.

  20. 20.

    Joint Convention, Art. 19.

  21. 21.

    Joint Convention, Art. 20.

  22. 22.

    Joint Convention, Art. 21.

  23. 23.

    Joint Convention, Art. 23.

  24. 24.

    Joint Convention, Art. 24.

  25. 25.

    Joint Convention, Art. 25.

  26. 26.

    Joint Convention, Art. 27.

  27. 27.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Article 5; Joint Convention, Art. 32.

  28. 28.

    Convention on Nuclear Safety, Article 23; Joint Convention, Art. 31.

  29. 29.

    IAEA (2007), p. 51.

  30. 30.

    IAEA (2007), p. 79.

  31. 31.

    IAEA (2007), p. 69.

  32. 32.

    Summary Report of the 5th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, Vienna, Austria (2011).

  33. 33.

    IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 2.

  34. 34.

    IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 3.

  35. 35.

    IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 4.

  36. 36.

    See Swiss Confederation (2010).

  37. 37.

    See Russian Federation (2010).

  38. 38.

    Rautenbach et al. (2006), p. 9 and n. 6.

  39. 39.

    Notification Convention, Art. 1.

  40. 40.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 1.

  41. 41.

    Notification Convention, Art. 1.1.

  42. 42.

    Notification Convention, Art. 2(a).

  43. 43.

    Notification Convention, Art. 2(b), Art. 5.

  44. 44.

    Notification Convention, Art. 1.1.

  45. 45.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 2.1.

  46. 46.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 2.5.

  47. 47.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 2.3.

  48. 48.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 3.

  49. 49.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 7.

  50. 50.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 10.

  51. 51.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 2.6.

  52. 52.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 5.

  53. 53.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 4.1.

  54. 54.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 6.

  55. 55.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 8.

  56. 56.

    Assistance Convention, Art. 10.

  57. 57.

    See: Price-Anderson Act 1957 (US); Nuclear Installations (Licensing and Insurance) Act 1959 (United Kingdom); Atomic Energy Act 1959 (Germany); Federal Law on the Exploitation of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes and Protection from Irradiation 1959 (Switzerland); and Nuclear Damages Act 1961 (Japan).

  58. 58.

    See generally Schwartz (2006), pp. 44–57.

  59. 59.

    2004 Protocol, Art. I.B; 1997 Protocol, Art. 2(2). The 1963 Vienna Convention limited nuclear damage to personal injury, loss or damage of property, or other damage ‘compensable under the law of the competent court’: Art. 1(k).

  60. 60.

    Special Drawing Rights are an international reserve asset of the International Monetary Fund.

  61. 61.

    The four countries are Argentina, Morocco, Romania and the United States. There are 15 signatory countries.

  62. 62.

    Pursuant to Article XX, the CSC will enter into force on the 90th day following the date on which at least five states with a minimum of 400,000 units of installed nuclear capacity (MWt) have deposited an instrument referred to in Article XVIII.

  63. 63.

    CSC, Art. XVIII.

  64. 64.

    International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (undated).

  65. 65.

    IAEA (2011).

  66. 66.

    IAEA (2011), p. 1, n. 1.

  67. 67.

    IAEA (2011), pp. 2–3.

References

Documents and Materials

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, Washington, DC, USA

    Helen Cook

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  1. Helen Cook
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Correspondence to Helen Cook .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Simon Butt

  2. ANU College of Law, Australian National University, Canberra, Aust Capital Terr, Australia

    Hitoshi Nasu

  3. Sydney Law School, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

    Luke Nottage

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Cook, H. (2014). International Nuclear Law: Nuclear Safety, Emergency Response and Nuclear Liability. In: Butt, S., Nasu, H., Nottage, L. (eds) Asia-Pacific Disaster Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39768-4_14

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