15 / 30
13
factory using nuclear fuel
13
for the production of nuclear material,
14
or any factory
for the processing of nuclear material, including any factory for the re-processing of
irradiated nuclear fuel; and any facility where nuclear material is stored, other than
storage incidental to the carriage of such material.”
Consequently, one of the key
issues of the nuclear liability is to identify those facilities, covered by the special
régime
created by the Convention.
It is a matter of fact, that since the adoption of the Convention, this issue has been
subject of various academic discussions.
15
Unlike the ParisConventiononNuclearThird
Party Liability of 1960 (hereinafter the “Paris Convention”),
16
the Vienna Convention
does not envisage the inclusion of other nuclear installations by a decision taken by
a competent international body.
17
The absence of a provision to this effect may be
seen as precluding the possibility of taking into account recent or future developments
and covering additional types of installations which may involve risks of a considerable
magnitude, such as radioactive waste disposal facilities, installations in the process of
being decommissioned or other types of nuclear installations.
Further, in order to strengthen the liability framework established by the
Vienna Convention, several Contracting Parties signed
18
the Protocol to Amend
13
“Nuclear fuel” means any material which is capable of producing energy by a self-sustaining chain
process of nuclear fission [Article I par. 1 letter f)].
14
“Nuclear material” means nuclear fuel, other than natural uranium and depleted uranium, capable
of producing energy by a self-sustaining chain process of nuclear fission outside a nuclear reactor,
either alone or in combination with some other material; and radioactive products or waste
[Article I par. 1 letter h)].
15
See WOLFF, K. The Vienna International Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage,
In WEINSTEN, J. ed.
Nuclear Liability, Progress in Nuclear Energy
, Series X, Vol. 4, Oxford :
Pergamon Press, 1966, pp. 1-22.
16
The Paris Convention on Nuclear Third Party Liability of 1960 was adopted under the auspices
of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency and covers the most Western European countries (Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia,
Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom).
17
The Paris Convention provides in its Article 1 par. a) letter ii) that a “nuclear installations” means
“reactors other than those comprised in any means of transport; factories for the manufacture or
processing of nuclear substances; factories for the separation of isotopes of nuclear fuel; factories
for the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuel; facilities for the storage of nuclear substances other
than storage incidental to the carriage of such substances; and such other installations in which
there are nuclear fuel or radioactive products or waste as the Steering Committee for Nuclear
Energy of the Organisation (hereinafter referred to as the “Steering Committee”) shall from time
to time determine; any Contracting Party may determine that two or more nuclear installations of
one operator which are located on the same site shall, together with any other premises on that site
where radioactive material is held, be treated as a single nuclear installation.”
18
Argentina, Belarus, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania,
Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania and Ukraine.