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Nuclear Safety After Chernobyl: The Role of International Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2009

Peter D. Cameron
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Abstract

After Chernobyl, the perception of a common interest in internationally organised nuclear safety measures has been evident among all governments of countries with nuclear power plants, as well as those likely to be involved in or affected by a nuclear accident. Dr. Peter D. Cameron examines the two principal developments in international lawwhich reflect this consensus: the Convention on Early Notification of a Nuclear Accident and the Convention on Assistance in the Event of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. While representing a considerable achievement, the Conventions underline the determination of states parties not to lose control over nuclear matters at the national level.

Type
Leading Articles
Information
Leiden Journal of International Law , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , November 1988 , pp. 121 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation of the Leiden Journal of International Law 1988

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References

1. The IAEA is an intergovernmental organisation, established on 29 July 1957 in accordance with a decision of the General Assembly of the United Nations, with its headquarters in Vienna. The IAEA is autonomous but administratively a member of the UN system. It has 113 member states.

2. According to he procedure of Art. 12(3), it entered into force thirty days after the date on which three states expressed their consent to be bound by the Convention.

3. According to the procedure in Art. 14(3), it entered into force thirty days after the date on which three states expressed their consent to be bound by the Convention.

4. Pursuant to Art. 19(1) of the Convention, it entered into force on the thirtieth day following the date of deposit of the twenty-first instrument of ratification, acceptance or approval with the Director-General of the IAEA.

5. IAEA, One Year After Chernobyl 5.

6. NEA, The Radiological Impact of the Chernobyl Accident in OECD Countries 7 (1987); see also IAEA, Summary Report on the Post-Accident Review Meeting on the Chernobyl Accident, Safety Series no. 75, INSAG-1.

7. The number of deaths was 31, according to the figures presented by the Soviet delegation to the IAEA meeting in August 1986. Most of the victims were firemen exposed to fires started by incandescent nuclear fall-out. Four disasters involving fossil fuels produced much larger death-tolls in the 1980s: the collapse of the Alexander Kielland oil rig in 1980 (123 deaths), the explosion of an oil-fired power station in Caracas in 1982 (98 deaths) and the explosion of a liquified petroleum gas store in Mexico City in 1984 (600 deaths). Most recently, the Piper Alpha oil rig in the North Sea was destroyed causing the loss of 167 lives.

8. The role of the two organisations is discussed by Reyners and Lellouche, Regulation and Control by International Organisations in the Context ofaNuclear Accident: The International Atomic Energy Agency and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, in Cameron, P.D.Hancher, L.Kuhn, W. (eds.), Nuclear Energy Law After Chernobyl 1–17 (1988).Google Scholar

9. Of the three principal organisations, Euratom is invested with the most powers concerning the regulation and control of nuclear accidents. See Cameron, P.D.Hancher, L.Kuhn, W. (eds.), Nuclear Energy Law After Chernobyl (1988).Google Scholar

10. Comprehensive overviews of IAEA activities are to be found in Szasz, The Law and Practices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 7 International Atomic Energy Agency Legal Series (1970). Also, Scheinman, L. The International Atomic Energy Agency and World Nuclear Order (1987).Google Scholar

11. 11 International Legal Materials 1416 (1972).

12. 35 American Journal of International Law 684 (1941).

13. US Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, Statement by A. I. Mendelowitz before the S ubcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Government Affairs (1986).

14. IAEA, INFIRC/310 (1984).

15. IAEA, One Year After Chernobyl, at iii.

16. Szasz, The Law and Practices of the International Atomic Energy Agency, 7 International Atomic Energy Legal Series 716–721 (1970).Google Scholar

17. Adede, A.O. The IAEA Notification and Assistance Conventions in Case of a Nuclear Accident 149–157(1987).Google Scholar

18. Id., at 143–148.

19. For example,tha United Kingdom.

20. Adede, A. O. The IAEA Notification and Assistance Conventions in Case of a Nuclear Accident 37–38 (1987).Google Scholar

21. This point is made by Politi, The Vienna Conventions on Early Notification and Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, Nuclear Inter Jura (1986). International Nuclear Law Association Conference, Antwerp (1987).

22. 19 Tractatenblad, no. 165 at 6–7 (1986).

23. For example, the definitions of ‘nuclear materia‘l and ‘international nuclear transpor‘t contained in Art. 1 of the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material; both the Vienna and the Paris Conventions on Liability define ‘nuclear accident’

24. Pelzer, The Impact of the Chernobyl Accident on Nuclear Energy Law, 25 Archiv des Völkerrechts 303 (1987). Cf. the Cosmos 954 incident in 1978: a Soviet nuclear powered satellite crashed on Canadiansoil. To prevent damage the Canadian Government incurred search and rescue costs of three million dollars. In the event no physical or economic damage was suffered by Canadian citizens and no measurable damage was caused to the environment by nuclear debris; the legal issues are summarised by Haanappel, Some Observations on the Crash of the Cosmos 954,6 Journal of Space Law 147–149 (1978).Google Scholar

25. Memorandum van Overeenstemming inzake Nucleaire Veiligheid, Persbericht 38 (1987).

26. Art. 2 (3).

27. See literature cited in Pelzer, The Impact of the Chernobyl Accident on International Nuclear Energy Law, 25 Archiv des Völkerrechts 305 (1987).Google Scholar

28. Zehetner, F.Grenzuberschreitende Hilfe bei Stoörfallen und Unfallen, in Pelzer, N. (ed.), Kemenergienutzung und Staatsgrenzen in Mitteleuropa 118 (1987).Google Scholar

29. Issues of state or civil responsibility for nuclear accidents are not dealt with by the Convention.

30. Art. 10(5,6).

31. Art. 10(2).

32. IAEA Newsbrief, 25 November 1987.

33. 39 Nuclear Law Bulletin 54–57 (1987).

34. Art. 2 (2).

35. Art. 5.

36. Art. 6.

37. Memorandum van Overeenstemming inzake Nucleaire Veiligheid, Persbericht 38 (1987). All the above agreements are summarised in: 39 Nuclear Law Bulletin; OECD Nuclear Energy Agency 35 (1987); 41 Nuclear Law Bulletin; OECD Nuclear Energy Agency 42–43 (1988).

38. OJ.L371/76 30(1987).

39. IAEANewsbrief, 1 March 1988.

40. Critical appraisals of the Conventions include inter alia Strohl, Tchernobyl et le Probleme des Obligations Internationales Relatives aux Accidents Nucléaires 4 Politique Etrang`re 1035–1054(1986); Cameron, Handler, After Chernobyl: Has Anything Really Changed?, in P.D. Cameron, L. Hancher, W. Kuhn (eds.), Nuclear Energy Law After Chernobyl 179–195 (1988).

41. Pelzer, The Impact of the Chernobyl Accident on International Nuclear Energy Law, 25 Archiv des Velkerrechts 306 (1986).Google Scholar

42. Politi, The Vienna Conventions of 1986 on Early Notification and Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency, Nuclear Inter Jura (1986), International Nuclear Law Association, Antwerp (1987).