On 7 July 2014, the UAE joined the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), an international treaty which was developed as an umbrella for international liability conventions, providing the basis for a global nuclear liability regime.
H.E. Ambassador Hamad Alkaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), signed the pact in Vienna yesterday, and handed over the ratification document to the IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano during a ceremony attended by the Agency’s senior staff.
“UAE is taking the lead again in setting a good example by joining the Supplementary Compensation Convention” said Ambassador Alkaabi. “International nuclear liability conventions, such as the CSC, provide a framework which is consistent with the UAE’s responsible approach in developing a safe and secure nuclear energy programme” he added.
The UAE has previously joined a set of international conventions which are designed to provide compensation for damage arising from nuclear incidents. These conventions, which form an international nuclear liability regime, include the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, as amended by the 1997 Protocol, and the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention.
The UAE issued its Federal Law on Nuclear Liability in 2012, which aims to regulate the provisions and determine the scope of the civil liability and compensation for Nuclear Damage that could occur as a result of a nuclear accident. The law concludes the financial security that the Nuclear Operator must maintain and further elaborates upon the implementation of international obligations in relation to Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage.
Under the International nuclear liability framework, the operator of a nuclear facility is solely and exclusively liable for damages arising from a nuclear incident.
By joining the CSC today, the UAE has completed the list of international treaties related to nuclear energy , nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation, as outlined in the Policy of United Arab Emirates on the Evaluation and Potential Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy.
The list of international treaties include:
- Convention on Early Notification of Nuclear Accident (1987)
- Convention on Assistance in the Case of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency (1987)
- Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (1995)
- Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (2000)
- Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (2003)
- Additional Protocol to Safeguards Agreement (2010)
- Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (2003)
- Amendment to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (2009)
- United Nations International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (2005)
- Convention on Nuclear Safety (2009)
- Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel and Radiological Waste (2009)
- Protocol to Amend the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (2012)
- Joint Protocol on the Application of the Vienna Convention and Paris Convention (2012)
