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THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR DAMAGE …
matters of nuclear liability for damages incurred by the operation of nuclear powered
vessels were reserved for a specialized international treaty.
27
However, this special
liability convention has never entered into force, and, consequently, nuclear powered
vessels remain excluded from the scope of international liability instruments until
today.
28
With regard to the application of the Vienna Convention on nuclear reactors
with which means of sea transport are equipped, the project of a
floating nuclear power
plant
must be mentioned.
29
A floating nuclear power plant is a non-self-propelled
vessel, carrying two naval propulsion reactors, together providing up to 70 MW of
electricity or 300 MW of heat, enough for a city with a population of 200,000 people.
It could also be modified as a desalination plant producing 240,000 cubic meters of
fresh water a day. Basically, the floating nuclear power plants are planned to be used
mainly in the Russian Arctic.
30
According to information published by the Rosatom
State Atomic Energy Corporation, several states have shown interest in hiring
such a device.
31
However, the Convention does not apply to these technologies.
32
Therefore, the liability framework of the Vienna Convention will not cover liability
cases arising from use of these nuclear technologies. Consequently, a need for special
bilateral liability agreements will arise in the case where floating nuclear power plants
will be hired by other countries and used in their national waters.
33
Due to the fact that the fathers of the Vienna Convention restricted its applicability
solely to those installations “containing nuclear fuel in such an arrangement that a self-
sustaining chain process of
nuclear fission
can occur therein without an additional
27
The Brussels Convention on the Liability of Operators of Nuclear Ships of 1962.
28
A proposal to include those nuclear reactors generating power for vessels and airplanes was made
during the negotiation of the Amended Vienna Convention. But while several delegations supported
the proposal, a number of other delegations objected to it. In particular, they noted, that there were
no civilian nuclear powered vessels, with the exception of a few nuclear ice-breakers. In view of the
difference in opinion, it was decided not to include these nuclear technologies under the scope of the
Amended Convention.
29
The project of Russian floating nuclear power stations started in the early 2000s. In 2000 the Rosatom
State Atomic Energy Corporation chose Severodvinsk in Arkhangelsk Oblast as the place for building
the first floating power generating station. Construction of the first floating nuclear power station,
“Akademik Lomonosov”, started on 15 April 2007 at the Sevmash Submarine-Building Plant in
Severodvinsk. However, in August 2008 construction work was transferred to the Baltic Shipyard
in Saint Petersburg, which is also responsible for the construction of the next vessels. “Akademik
Lomonosov”, was launched on 1 July 2010, at a cost of 6 billion rubles (232 million US $).
30
Five of these will be used by Gazprom for offshore oil and gas field development and for operations on
the Kola and Yamal peninsulas.
31
Including China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Algeria, Namibia, Cape Verde and Argentina.
32
The Convention does not apply to any reactor “with which a means of sea … transport is equipped for
use as a source of power, whether for propulsion thereof
or for any other purpose
” (emphasis added).
33
See TSCHERNING, R. Transportable Nuclear Power Plants – An Update on Regulatory Responses in
International Nuclear Law, In
Nuclear Law in the EU and Beyond,
Baden Baden: Nomos Verlag, 2014,
at p. 198.