Strengthening of Nuclear Liability Demo

regard to the nuclear reactors, being in the phase of decommissioning. This issue has been faced by the Installation States only very recently. Scientific literature tends to interpret the applicable provisions in the way, that a facility remains to be covered by the liability régime of the Convention until the final removal of any nuclear materials. 53 This means that the liability regime established under the Convention will be applicable to the operator of a nuclear installation that has been shut down. During the process of decommissioning, liability will therefore rest upon the operator, which means that he will be obliged to carry appropriate liability insurance up to stipulated liability limit. It may be interesting to add, that the NEA Steering Committee explicitly agreed in 1987, that the “provisions of the Paris Convention should be interpreted as covering nuclear installations in the process of decommissioning.” 54 This decision, however, did not reflect the fact that the reduced risk represented by the facility due to its shutdown could or should have a mitigating effect upon the extent of mandatory financial liability limit. 55 For that reason, the Steering Committee decided in 1990, that a Contracting Party may cease to apply the Paris Convention to a nuclear installation being decommissioned, provided that it must have permanently 56 ceased operation, be completely defueled and remain under control of the competent national authority, which should ensure maintenance of appropriate provisions for confinement of radioactivity, and, finally, provided that the specified criteria are satisfied. 57 This means that the decision to exclude the facilities in the process of being decommissioned from the scope of the Paris Convention is left to the Contracting States, whereas the technical criteria for this option ensure that the risk presented by the relevant facility are minimised to the sur la responsibilité civile dans le domaine de l’énergie nucléaire et problèmes de responsabilité et d’assurance, In OECD, ed. Nuclear Third Party Liability and Insurance , Paris : OECD, 1985, p. 303. 53 See KISSICH, S. Internationales Atomhaftungsrecht: Anwendungsbereich und Haftungsprinzipien , Baden-Baden : Nomos Verlag, 2004, p. 141. 54 See OECD/NEA, ed. Paris Convention: Decisions, Recommendations, Interpretations , Paris : OECD, 1990, p. 6. 55 See HORBACH, N., HANENBURG, E. Legal Aspects of the Decommissioning of Nuclear Facilities: A Comparative View, Nuclear Law Bulletin , Paris, 58, 1996, p. 39. 56 This moment represents another point, where the liability regime established by the Vienna Convention is being interconnected with the national public law, regulating nuclear safety, in particular with the permit issued by the competent authority in order to phase out the installation. See IOIRYSH, A. I., SUPATAEVA, O. A., CHOPORNIAK, A. B. Otvetstvennosti za iadernyi ushcherb , Moskva : Nauka, 1993, p. 112. 57 See OECD/NEA, ed. Paris Convention: Decisions, Recommendations, Interpretations , Paris : OECD, 1990, p. 8, and see also Annex III Contracting States Authorised to Exclude Installations Being Decommissioned, p. 22.

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