CYIL vol. 13 (2022)

MATT SAVINI CYIL 13 ȍ2022Ȏ Outside of nuclear liability, the international community adopted uniform rules to govern the general safety in the maritime. The International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (“SOLAS”) was adopted in 1974. 65 The framework of SOLAS provides an international standard for, but not limited to, vessel construction, navigation, communications, fire safety provisions, and life safety. Specifically, Chapter VIII of SOLAS governs nuclear ships and outlines fundamental requirements such as design and construction approvals, safety assessments, radiation safety, certification, and special port control. 66 Through subsequent amendment, Chapter VIII now refers to the Code of Safety for Nuclear Merchant Ships in 1981 adopted by the International Maritime Organization (“IMO”). 67 The purpose of the code is to provide technical design criteria and principles for the nuclear plant, ship, supporting systems, radiation safety, quality assurance, and operation. 68 As evidenced above, it is clear that a legal framework exists for the safety, design, construction, and operation of nuclear ships. Similarly, international requirements developed around the transportation of the radioactive materials, a process which creates comparable risk to a nuclear ship with the potential for radioactive release. 69 As an avoidance strategy, countries decided to reject the right of innocent passage by vessels carrying radioactive material. 70 There is debate if such rejection violates international law. 71 The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (“UNCLOS”) provide nations the right to pass through a coastal state’s seas, seemingly to include carrying radioactive material. 72 However, UNCLOS also requires coastal states to protect and preserve their marine environments which interests may conflict with the right to innocent passage. SOLAS attempts to address the carriage of dangerous goods in Chapter VII with increased safety criteria and requires compliance to the Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Waste on Board Ships (“INF Code”). 73 The environmental impact of a nuclear accident or radioactive release is comparable to effects of oil spill disasters which also can cause widespread, catastrophic harm to the people, the environment, and economy so we next analyze the civil liabilities of pollution 65 International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS), 1974, Nov. 1, 1974, 1184 U.N.T.S. 2 [hereinafter SOLAS]. 66 Id. 67 Code of Safety of Nuclear Merchant Ships, International Maritime Organization Resolution A.491(XII), Nov. 19, 1981; SOLAS, supra note 64. 68 Id. 69 Oceanic Transportation of Radioactive Materials: The Conflict Between the Law of the Seas’ Right of Innocent Passage and Duty to the Marine Environment, 13 Fla. J. Int’l L. 361, 366 (2001); Compare the 1956 Statute of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 8 U.S.T.S. 1093, 276 U.N.T.S. 3, with the Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Flasks on Board Ships, IMO Assembly Resolution A.748(18) (Nov. 4, 1993) [hereinafter INF], and the International Atomic Energy Agency Regulations for the Safe Transport of Radioactive Materials, ST-1 (1996) [hereinafter IAEA]. 70 Oceanic Transportation of Radioactive Materials: The Conflict Between the Law of the Seas’ Right of Innocent Passage and Duty to the Marine Environment, 13 Fla. J. Int’l L. 361, 367 (2001). 71 Id. at 369. 72 Id. at 362-363. 73 Code of Safety of Nuclear Merchant Ships, International Maritime Organization Resolution A.491(XII), Nov. 19, 1981; SOLAS, supra note 64; Code for the Safe Carriage of Irradiated Nuclear Fuel, Plutonium and High-Level Radioactive Waste in Flasks on Board Ships, IMO Assembly Resolution A.748(18) (Nov. 4, 1993) [hereinafter INF]; Oceanic Transportation of Radioactive Materials, supra note 69, at 370.

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