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.
Keywords
- Nuclear Power Plant
- International Atomic Energy Agency
- Radiological Emergency
- Nuclear Accident
- Nuclear Safety
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
The views expressed in this work are personal to the author and do not express the views of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsNotes
- 1.
- 2.
IAEA (2007).
- 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.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 4.
- 5.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 7.
- 6.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 8.
- 7.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 8.
- 8.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 10.
- 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.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 9.
- 11.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 13.
- 12.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 12.
- 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.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Art. 16.
- 15.
Joint Convention, Art. 3.
- 16.
Joint Convention, Art. 1.
- 17.
Article 4 provides that:
… each Contracting Party shall take the appropriate steps to:
-
(i)
ensure that criticality and removal of residual heat generated during spent fuel management are adequately addressed;
-
(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;
-
(iii)
take into account interdependencies among the different steps in spent fuel management;
-
(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;
-
(v)
take into account the biological, chemical and other hazards that may be associated with spent fuel management;
-
(vi)
strive to avoid actions that impose reasonably predictable impacts on future generations greater than those permitted for the current generation;
-
(vii)
aim to avoid imposing undue burdens on future generations.
-
(i)
- 18.
Joint Convention, Art. 17.
- 19.
Joint Convention, Art. 10.
- 20.
Joint Convention, Art. 19.
- 21.
Joint Convention, Art. 20.
- 22.
Joint Convention, Art. 21.
- 23.
Joint Convention, Art. 23.
- 24.
Joint Convention, Art. 24.
- 25.
Joint Convention, Art. 25.
- 26.
Joint Convention, Art. 27.
- 27.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Article 5; Joint Convention, Art. 32.
- 28.
Convention on Nuclear Safety, Article 23; Joint Convention, Art. 31.
- 29.
IAEA (2007), p. 51.
- 30.
IAEA (2007), p. 79.
- 31.
IAEA (2007), p. 69.
- 32.
Summary Report of the 5th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, Vienna, Austria (2011).
- 33.
IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 2.
- 34.
IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 3.
- 35.
IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report, p. 4.
- 36.
See Swiss Confederation (2010).
- 37.
See Russian Federation (2010).
- 38.
Rautenbach et al. (2006), p. 9 and n. 6.
- 39.
Notification Convention, Art. 1.
- 40.
Assistance Convention, Art. 1.
- 41.
Notification Convention, Art. 1.1.
- 42.
Notification Convention, Art. 2(a).
- 43.
Notification Convention, Art. 2(b), Art. 5.
- 44.
Notification Convention, Art. 1.1.
- 45.
Assistance Convention, Art. 2.1.
- 46.
Assistance Convention, Art. 2.5.
- 47.
Assistance Convention, Art. 2.3.
- 48.
Assistance Convention, Art. 3.
- 49.
Assistance Convention, Art. 7.
- 50.
Assistance Convention, Art. 10.
- 51.
Assistance Convention, Art. 2.6.
- 52.
Assistance Convention, Art. 5.
- 53.
Assistance Convention, Art. 4.1.
- 54.
Assistance Convention, Art. 6.
- 55.
Assistance Convention, Art. 8.
- 56.
Assistance Convention, Art. 10.
- 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.
See generally Schwartz (2006), pp. 44–57.
- 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.
Special Drawing Rights are an international reserve asset of the International Monetary Fund.
- 61.
The four countries are Argentina, Morocco, Romania and the United States. There are 15 signatory countries.
- 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.
CSC, Art. XVIII.
- 64.
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (undated).
- 65.
IAEA (2011).
- 66.
IAEA (2011), p. 1, n. 1.
- 67.
IAEA (2011), pp. 2–3.
References
Bellany I, Blacker C, Gallacher J (eds) (1985) The nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Frank Cass, London
IAEA (1991) IAEA Safety Series No.75-INSAG-4. Vienna, IAEA. http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub882_web.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
IAEA (2007) IAEA safety glossary: terminology used in nuclear safety and radiation protection. Vienna, IAEA. http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/Pub1290_web.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
IAEA (2011) IAEA action plan on nuclear safety. http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/actionplan/reports/actionplanns130911.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
International Expert Group on Nuclear Liability (undated) IAEA action plan on nuclear safety – nuclear liability. http://gnssn.iaea.org/actionplan/Shared%20Documents/Action%2007%20-%20International%20Legal%20Framework/Recommendations%20on%20how%20to%20facilitate%20achievement%20of%20a%20global%20nuclear%20liability%20regime.pdf. Accessed 20 Apr 2013
Joyner D (2009) International law and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Joyner D (2011) Interpreting the nuclear non-proliferation. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Njølstad O (ed) (2011) Nuclear proliferation and international order: challenges to the non-proliferation treaty. Routledge, London
Rautenbach J, Tonhauser W, Wetherall A (2006) Overview of the International legal framework governing the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy: some practical steps. In: OECD-Nuclear Energy Association and IAEA (2006) International nuclear law in the post-Chernobyl period. http://www.oecd-nea.org/law/chernobyl/. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
Schwartz J (2006) International nuclear third party liability law: the response to Chernobyl. In: OECD-Nuclear Energy Association and IAEA (2006) International Nuclear Law in the Post-Chernobyl Period, pp 44–57. http://www.oecd-nea.org/law/chernobyl/. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
Documents and Materials
Atomic Energy Act 1959 (Germany)
Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, 26 September 1986, 1457 UNTS 133 (entered into force 26 February 1987) (Assistance Convention)
Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident, 26 September 1986, 1439 UNTS 275 (entered into force 27 October 1986) (Notification Convention)
Convention on Nuclear Safety, 17 June 1994, 1963 UNTS 293 (entered into force 24 October 1996) (Convention on Nuclear Safety)
Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, 12 September 1997, IAEA INFCIRC/567, 36 ILM 1454 (not yet entered into force) (CSC)
Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, 29 July 1960, 956 UNTS 251 (entered into force 1 April 1968), as amended by the Additional Protocol of 28 January 1964 and the Protocol of 16 November 1982 (Paris Convention)
Federal Law on the Exploitation of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes and Protection from Irradiation 1959 (Switzerland)
IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety, CNS/ExM/2012/04/Rev.2, Final Summary Report of the 2nd Extraordinary Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety (27–31 August 2012) (IAEA Convention on Nuclear Safety Final Summary Report)
Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management, 5 September 1997, 2153 UNTS 303 (entered into force 18 June 2001) (Joint Convention)
Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention, 21 September 1988, 1672 UNTS 293 (entered into force 27 April 1992) (Joint Protocol)
Nuclear Damages Act 1961 (Japan)
Nuclear Installations (Licensing and Insurance) Act 1959 (United Kingdom)
Price-Anderson Act of 1957 (US)
Protocol to Amend the Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 29 July 1960, as amended by the Additional Protocol of 28 January 1964 and by the Protocol of 16 November 1982, 12 February 2004 (not yet entered into force) (2004 Protocol)
Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, 12 September 1997, IAEA INFCIRC/566 (entered into force 4 October 2003) (1997 Protocol)
Russian Federation (2010) Convention on Nuclear Safety: Proposal for Amendments by the Russian Federation, IAEA N5.41.01 Circ.
Summary Report of the 5th Review Meeting of the Contracting Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety, Vienna, Austria (2011) CNS/RM/2011/6/FINAL
Swiss Confederation (2010) Convention on Nuclear Safety: Proposal for Amendments by the Swiss Confederation, IAEA N5.41.01 Circ.
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Safety Culture Policy Statement, NUREG/BR-0500. http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/nuregs/brochures/br0500/. Accessed 22 Apr 2013
Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, 21 May 1963, 1063 UNTS 265 (entered into force 12 November 1977) (Vienna Convention)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
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
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39768-4_14
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39767-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39768-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawLaw and Criminology (R0)