Offshore nuclear installations

It is possible now to foresee the creation of nuclear power plants on floating or fixed islands although from the safety viewpoint, floating islands are preferable. The definition of the legal nature of artificial islands raises a first problem insofar as artificial islands are neither islands nor ships. Furthermore, their statute would differ according to whether they were sited in territorial seas or in the new 'economic zones'. This leads to consideration of the applicability of Italian maritime legislation to nuclear power plants on floating islands without setting aside that of international regulations on radioactive maritime pollution. (N.E.A.)