CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

MATT SAVINI CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ an environment to safely harness the awesome power of the fission reaction. This is not the case for nuclear shipping. There is neither uniform agreement between the countries of the world nor is there a clear legal framework in the United States that governs nuclear shipping. This analysis will not consider the financial calculus of the compensation regimes but will focus on establishing the law. As the technology emerges as an economically attractive option allowing, theoretically, continuous operation for years before refueling is necessary, the law needs to catch up and establish a uniform global framework to operate under. The correct place for that framework is in the admiralty jurisdiction and we don’t need to recreate the wheel to contain it. 2. Background It is common to recognize the power of nuclear fission from history when the United States detonated two nuclear warheads at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to persuade a Japanese surrender and end of World War II. Some of the details and the commercial applications are less familiar. Nuclear fission was first discovered in Nazi Germany in 1938 1 and expanded the next year in the United States at the behest of European immigrant scientists who fled the war collaborating with American physicists. 2 The first chain reaction was achieved through the efforts under the Manhattan Project at the University of Chicago in 1942. 3 The mission of the Manhattan Project was completed in August 1945 when the two nuclear bombs were dropped in Japan. 4 After the war, development of the incredible power turned to commercial applications with the first electricity generation occurring in 1951 at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. 5 A few years later, civilian nuclear power generation was achieved by the Soviets in 1954. 6 That same year, the United States launched its first nuclear propelled submarine, USSNAUTILUS. 7 The Soviets launched the first non-military powered shipwhich was an icebreaker, LENIN. 8 With the advent of the nuclear age and its commercialization, the world was now off and running with this new powerful (and potentially dangerous) energy source. In the United States, the commercialization of the technology was initially authorized by Congress in 1946 by the Atomic Energy Act which created the Atomic Energy Commission (“AEC”) charged with controlling all civilian applications of nuclear energy. 9 Congress later amended the act in 1954 to further its interests and encourage the development of the technology, assigning the responsibility of safety to the AEC. 10 The legislative purpose declared “the development, use, and control of atomic energy shall be directed so as to promote world peace, improve the general welfare, increase the standard of living, and strengthen free 1 “The Manhattan Project, an Interactive History”. U.S. Department of Energy. https://www.osti.gov/opennet/ manhattan-project-history/Events/1890s-1939/discovery_fission.htm. 2 Id. 3 “50 Years of Nuclear Energy” (PDF). International Atomic Energy Agency. 4 “The Manhattan Project, an Interactive History,” supra note 1. 5 “50 Years of Nuclear Energy” (PDF), supra note 3.

6 Id. 7 Id. 8 Id. 9 § 6:18. Nuclear power, 1L. of Indep. Power § 6:18 (2021). 10 Id.

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