Fifth Meeting on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage

More than 100 representatives from 17 Parties and Signatories (Argentina, Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Japan, Lithuania, Montenegro, Morocco, Peru, Philippines, Romania, Senegal, United Arab Emirates, and United States of America) joined the meeting in person and online.

They were joined by delegates from 18 invited observer countries (Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Chile, China, Colombia, Estonia, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Paraguay, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Viet Nam), as well as invited observers from the nuclear industry, insurers, lenders, the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Nuclear Energy Agency.

Representatives from countries in the process of or considering joining the CSC shared their views on the convention, their reasons for considering it and any issues arising during the process.

Industry participants highlighted the need to establish a global nuclear liability regime based on the CSC, which would provide legal certainty to all stakeholders in the nuclear industry worldwide, including operators, insurers, suppliers and investors. The meeting also provided a forum for further practical discussions related to the operation of the CSC.?

“The CSC is the best way to address nuclear liability, since it provides legal certainty, minimizes supply chain concerns and increases investor confidence,” agreed Ben McRae, Chair of the Fifth Meeting and Assistant General Counsel for Civilian Nuclear Programs at the US Department of Energy.

A specialist panel discussed the importance of the CSC with reference to the impact of nuclear liability on the cost of nuclear projects. The last part of the meeting was devoted to the continued discussion of the issue of a possible amendment to the CSC, to eliminate the obligation for States with no nuclear reactors to make contributions to the convention’s supplementary international fund, as a step to encouraging more countries to join it.

“The meeting successfully demonstrated growing momentum towards broad adherence to the CSC, which already covers approximately forty percent of nuclear power plants in the world and which offers the only pathway to universal participation in a global nuclear liability regime,” said McRae.?

A global regime based on the CSC is necessary to achieve the full promise of nuclear power to provide safe, secure, clean and affordable energy. The CSC assures prompt and equitable compensation for damage to persons, property and the environment and provides the legal certainty necessary for operators, suppliers, investors, lenders and insurers to participate in nuclear projects,” he added.

Anthony Wetherall, Head of the Nuclear and Treaty Law Section in the IAEA Office of Legal Affairs, said: “The CSC is an important building block in establishing a global nuclear liability regime as called for annually by the IAEA General Conference.”

He added: “This year’s fifth meeting was taking place in light of the CSC Parties’ efforts to achieve a possible amendment to the CSC that would eliminate the obligation on States with no nuclear reactors to make financial contributions to the CSC’s supplementary international fund.”

The CSC was adopted under IAEA auspices in 1997 and is the only international nuclear liability convention to cover this 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 serves as an 'umbrella' for all countries that are parties to one of the existing international nuclear liability conventions or have national legislation in place that conforms to the basic nuclear liability principles specified 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.

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