Underground nuclear repositories and international civil liability: the time factor

Abstract

International conventions dealing with civil liability and compensation for nuclear damage which were mostly adopted in the early 60s were primarily designed to apply to accidents likely to occur during the operation of large nuclear installations. Accordingly, they did not take into consideration the particular aspect of the long-term management and disposal of radioactive waste and, obviously, the introduction of a new category of nuclear facility: the underground repositories for spent nuclear fuel and high-level, long-lived radioactive waste which contain material remaining hazardous for quasi-indefinite periods of time. Since, amendments to these conventions partly allow addressing this particular risk but some serious questions remain concerning the ability of the current legal regime to cope with the test of time.