CYIL vol. 14 (2023)

CYIL 14 (2023) THE VIENNA CONVENTION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR NUCLEAR DAMAGE … In the future, one may expect further strengthening of liability framework by ratification, or accession to the Revised Vienna Convention. States like the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Poland and Belarus have recently joined the regime of the Revised Vienna Convention with respect to commencement of their own nuclear programmes. One may expect further accession to the Revised Vienna Convention by those states, which will aim to legitimise their own framework of liability and compensation in the course of building new nuclear installations – both conventional nuclear power plants and small modular reactors. 101 This might be the case of the Czech Republic and Hungary, which signed this instrument, but haven’t yet ratified it. Further accession to the Revised Vienna Convention may also be expected with respect to those states which do not envisage developing their own nuclear programmes, but intend to be part of this strengthened regime to protect their own citizens. 102 Referencing the newly launched nuclear power plant in the United Arab Emirates, accession to the Revised Vienna Convention may represent an option for states like Oman, Qatar, or Bahrein, all of them located within the vicinity of the newly launched installation. 103 Similarly, the recent nuclear aspirations of Ghana may represent an opportunity for its neighbouring states – Togo, Benin, Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire – to join the regime of the Revised Vienna Convention. 104 4. Conclusions This article was written to evaluate the universal ambitions, as provided in the Preamble of the Vienna Convention. The six decades since the adoption of this instrument represent a salient opportunity for evaluating the success of these ambitions. The fact is that the Vienna Convention failed to attract some of the major nuclear states worldwide. States, like Canada, India, South Africa, China and Japan have chosen to remain outside the Vienna Convention. On the other hand, the Vienna Convention managed to cover several compact territories with both nuclear and non-nuclear states – Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, the region of the Gulf of Guinea and several portions of Latin America. In all these regions, the Vienna Convention and the Revised Vienna Conventions co-exist peacefully. This article aimed to argue, that while the original universalist ambition of the Vienna Convention was not fulfilled, the instrument managed to be successful by establishing a robust framework for liability and compensation for compact regions of Europe, Africa, Asia and South America. In this respect, one may consider the Vienna Convention to be an instrument which at least was deemed to be successful. Further success will be achieved by strengthening of the liability regime by accession of more states to the Revised Vienna Convention in the future. 101 See HANDRLICA, J., NOVOTNÁ, M. The Feast of Insignificance of Small Modular Reactors in International Nuclear Law (2021) 12 Czech Yearbook of Public and Private International Law, at pp. 327–336. 102 See McINTOSH, S. Nuclear liability and post-Fukushima developments in IAEA (ed), Nuclear Law: The Global Debate, Vienna: Springer International, 2022, at pp. 249–269. 103 See HANDRLICA, J. From the front lines of international nuclear law: Looking back at the ‹Nuclear Inter Jura› Congress, held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (2019) 12 Journal of World Energy Law & Business, at pp. 71–274. 104 See RAMANA, M., V., AGYAPONG, P. Thinking big? Ghana, small reactors, and nuclear power (2016) 21 Energy Research & Social Science, at pp. 101–113.

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