Progress as Countries Seek to Join Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage

Progress is being made towards a global nuclear liability regime for nuclear damage, participants heard at the Fourth Meeting of the Contracting Parties and Signatories to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), held at the IAEA's headquarters in Vienna, Austria last month.

In his opening remarks, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi highlighted the important role of an international liability regime in underpinning the worldwide increase in nuclear power to achieve progress towards net zero carbon emissions and reach climate goals, as well as address economic development and energy security."The entry into force of the CSC in 2015 marked a major milestone in establishing a global nuclear liability regime. It is now the instrument that covers the greatest number of power reactors worldwide, about 180," the Director General said.

Some 60 representatives from 14 Parties and Signatories (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lebanon, Lithuania, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America) and 18 invited observer countries (Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Kenya, Mexico, Myanmar, Paraguay, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Uruguay), as well as invited observers from nuclear suppliers, insurers, lenders, the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency, all participated in the Fourth Meeting.

The meeting focused on efforts to expand CSC membership and to provide guidance on the operation of the CSC. In particular, representatives from countries that are in the process of, or giving serious consideration to, joining the CSC shared their views and perspectives on the convention, including suggestions on activities that could facilitate decisions to become a party. A number of reasons for joining the CSC were identified, including increasing public acceptance through higher assured compensation; addressing supply chain concerns; promoting investor and lender confidence; and securing treaty relations with both neighbouring countries and countries where suppliers, investors and lenders are located. Industry participants expressed the view that a global liability regime based on the CSC would greatly facilitate the treatment of nuclear liability in nuclear power projects around the world, and expressed the hope that more countries would join the CSC.

Ben McRae, Chair of the Fourth Meeting and Assistant General Counsel for Civilian Nuclear Programs at the US Department of Energy stated that the global nuclear liability regime based on the CSC was key to achieving the full promise of nuclear power to address climate change, economic development and energy security.

"The CSC assures prompt, equitable and meaningful compensation for damage to people, property, and the environment and provides the legal certainty necessary for operators, suppliers, investors, lenders and insurers to participate in nuclear projects.

"The CSC provides neighbouring countries the means to take a regional approach to dealing with liability and ensures the courts of a costal state have exclusive jurisdiction over a nuclear accident in its territorial sea and exclusive economic zone," McRae said

Representatives from the financial sector and the insurance community also provided information on how they assess nuclear risk in deciding on investment in, and insurance for, nuclear power projects. Participants were updated on the status of compensation following the Fukushima Daiichi NPP accident.

Anthony Wetherall, Head of the Nuclear and Treaty Law Section in the IAEA Office of Legal Affairs, stated that "the annual CSC meetings and inter-sessional work contribute to the readiness of the Parties to put the convention into operation, including the supplementary international fund, should it ever be needed. In addition to discussing related matters, a key purpose of this meeting is to raise awareness and deepen the understanding of the CSC among those countries that are seeking to join the convention."

The Inaugural Meeting of CSC Parties and Signatories was held in Ottawa, Canada in 2019, during which the IAEA accepted the request to act as the Secretariat for future meetings and to convene such meetings on a regular basis. Background

The CSC was adopted under IAEA auspices in 1997 and is the single existing international nuclear liability convention covering the greatest number of nuclear power reactors worldwide, approximately 180, or 43 per cent of such operational reactors. The CSC has 11 Parties (Argentina, Benin, Canada, Ghana, India, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, United Arab Emirates and United States of America) and 11 Signatories (Australia, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Mauritius, Peru, Philippines, Senegal and Ukraine). The Convention functions as an 'umbrella' for all countries that are party to one of the existing international nuclear liability conventions or have national legislation in place conforming to the basic nuclear liability principles in the Annex to the CSC. The IAEA's online CSC calculator enables countries to run scenarios of potential contributions to the CSC's contingent supplementary international fund.

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