Strengthening of Nuclear Liability Demo

Conclusions Since the adoption of the Vienna Convention, the issue of its applicability on various types of nuclear installations has been matter of scientific discussions. When the Convention was drafted, the question of hazards arising from certain uses of nuclear materials was not yet fully understood. The lack of explicit provisions concerning these uses in the Convention is due to the fact that when the Convention was drafted, the development of nuclear energy was in its infancy, and there was little concern about activities at the back end of the fuel cycle. However, most recently, problems are arising from disposal of radioactive waste, decommissioning of nuclear installations and also from launching of new nuclear technologies (e.g. floating nuclear power plants, nuclear fission, etc.) raised again the questions concerning applicability of the liability regime of this Convention on various types of technologies. In this respect, the Amended Vienna Convention strengthens existing legal framework and constitutes appropriate tool to cope with the challenges discussed in this contribution. 1.2 The 1997 Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention The European Union currently possesses exclusive competence as concerns acceding to international treaties which govern matters of jurisdiction and judicial co-operation. Consequently, the European Union is basically competent to accede to those international agreements which contain special provisions regulating this field. 63 However, there is a problem in relation to those international conventions that do not allow accession of the European Union, 64 which is also the case with all existing international nuclear liability conventions. 65 It is a matter of fact that it would be difficult to re-open negotiations in order to introduce a clause permitting ratification by the European Atomic Energy 63 EECKHOUD, P. External Relations of the European Union: Legal and Constitutional Foundations , Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2004, p. 135 et seqq. 64 E.g. the International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage of 2001 (the Bunkers Convention), the International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea (the HNS Convention), the Protocol of 2003 to the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Oil Pollution Damage, etc. 65 The Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy of 1960, the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 1963, the Joint Protocol relating to the Application of the Paris and Vienna Conventions of 1988, the Convention on Supplementary Compensation of 1997, the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention of 1997, the Protocol to Amend the Paris Convention of 2004.

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