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THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR DAMAGE …
Further, in order to strengthen the liability framework established by the Vienna
Convention, several Contracting Parties signed
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the Protocol to Amend the Vienna
Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage in 1997. The Vienna Convention,
as Amended by the Protocol of 1997 (hereinafter “the Amended Convention” or “the
Amended Vienna Convention”) entered into force in 2003. However, the Amended
Convention has not been ratified by all Contracting Parties of the Convention until
now. Consequently, the Amended Vienna Convention is currently valid in those
states which already have deposited theirs instruments of ratification,
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while in the
other states the (original version) of the Vienna Convention remains in force.
In relation to the definition of a “nuclear installation”, the Amended Vienna
Convention contains a new provision
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whereby the definition of “nuclear installation”
includes “such other installations in which there are nuclear fuel or radioactive products
or waste as the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency shall
from time to time determine.”
This article aims to deal with the question which nuclear technologies do fall under
the scope of application of the Convention (Amended Convention respectively). In
particular, this article aims to deal with those technologies which have become more
important for the nuclear sector during the last few decades (in particular radioactive
waste disposal facilities and installations in the process of being decommissioned).
Last but not least, attention will be paid also to the launching of new nuclear
technologies which have been most recently discussed.
The Convention and Nuclear Installations: Application Problems Revisited
Nuclear reactors
Any nuclear reactor other than one with which a means of sea or air transport is
equipped for use as a source of power is to be considered as a “nuclear installation”
and therefore falls under the scope of the Vienna Convention. The Convention
defines
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the term “nuclear installation” as “any structure containing nuclear fuel
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in such an arrangement that a self-sustaining chain process of nuclear fission can
occur therein without an additional source of neutrons.” Consequently, both nuclear
reactors used for the purposes of electricity production (in nuclear power plants) and
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Argentina, Belarus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco,
Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania and Ukraine.
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Argentina, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Montenegro, Morocco,
Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
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Art. I, Par. 1 letter /j/, Section /iv/.
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Art. I, Par. 1 letter /i/.
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“Nuclear fuel” means “any material which is capable of producing energy by a self-sustaining chain
process of nuclear fission” (Art. I, Par. 1, letter /f/).