Strengthening of Nuclear Liability Demo

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 hasn’t been ratified by all the 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, 19 while the in 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, 20 whereby the definition of “nuclear installation” includes “such other installation in which there are nuclear fuels or radioactive products or waste as the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency shall from time to time determine.” 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 “nuclear installation” and therefore falls under the scope of the Vienna Convention. The Convention defines 21 the term “nuclear installation” as “any structure containing nuclear fuel 22 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 reactors used for experimental, scientific or educational purposes (in research centres, universities, etc.) are to be covered by the liability regime of the Convention. The Convention relates exclusively to land based nuclear installations, and expressly excludes from its definition of “nuclear installation” any reactor “with which a means of sea or air transport is equipped for use as a source of power, whether for propulsion thereof or for any other purpose”. Consequently, nuclear reactors generating power for ships , submarines , airplanes , or space ships 23 do not fall 19 Argentina, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Montenegro, Morocco, Poland, Romania, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. 20 Article I par. 1 letter j), Section iv). 21 Article I par. 1 letter i). 22 “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)]. 23 See REYE, S. Extension of the Technical Scope of the Paris and Vienna Conventions: Fusion The Convention and Nuclear Installations: Application Problems Revisited

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