Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) and harmonization of nuclear liability law within the European Union

Recent events at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plants have demonstrated the importance of having strong and effective nuclear liability regimes in effect at the national and global levels to assure the availability of prompt and equitable compensation for nuclear damage in the event of a nuclear incident. In the aftermath of Chernobyl, the international community came together under the auspices of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (OECD/NEA) to review the nuclear liability principles in the 1963 Vienna Convention' and the 1960 Paris Convention,' consider enhancements to improve the effectiveness of those principles and develop the basis for establishing a worldwide liability regime to supplement and enhance those principles with a view to increasing the amount of compensation available for nuclear damage. 3 After an extensive and thorough review of the then existing liability regimes and numerous proposals for improvements, the international community adopted the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) 4 to be the basis for a worldwide liability regime. With the recent ratification of the CSC by the United States, the CSC is poised to come into effect. Now is the time for the international community, and especially those countries that use and promote the use of nuclear power, to act to bring the CSC into effect. Such action will establish a global regime that assures prompt and equitable compensation for nuclear damage by requiring strong and effective national regimes based on the enhanced nuclear liability principles and by providing for an international fund to supplement the amount of compensation available . This article focuses on the complementary nature of ratification of the CSC by the member states of the European Union, on the harmonization of nuclear liability laws within the European Union (EU) and on the importance of both actions proceeding in parallel and being completed soon. The CSC is an excellent vehicle to achieve greater harmonization of coverage and treatment of nuclear damage within the EU, while establishing a treaty link between EU member states and non-EU member states worldwide. The EU member states should proceed promptly to achieve greater harmonization of nuclear law within the EU and to become part of a global nuclear liability regime based on the CSC