Action 63

China has not become party to the main international civil nuclear liability conventions, including the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage and the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. Instead, China has implemented Action 63 primarily through a domestic nuclear-liability framework. The State Council’s 1986 decision on third-party nuclear liability and its 2007 decision on liability and compensation for nuclear accident damage establish core principles broadly consistent with international nuclear-liability conventions, including operator liability for personal injury, death, property damage and environmental damage caused by a nuclear accident. China has also established a nuclear accident liability insurance system; under the 2007 State Council decision, nuclear power plant licensees are required to purchase insurance sufficient to meet their liability limits before operation or before spent-fuel storage, transport and reprocessing.

France has ratified the Convention on Civil Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Paris Convention) as well as the Supplementary Convention to the Paris Convention on Civil Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Brussels Supplementary Convention). Their provisions are incorporated into domestic law by Law No. 68-943 of 30 October 1968, on civil liability in the field of nuclear energy, as amended by Law No. 90-488 of 16 June 1990, and codified by Order No. 2012-6 of 5 January 2012, amending Books I and V of the Environmental Code.

On 30 July 2014, France ratified the joint protocol for the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention.

On 13 and 28 August 2013, France and the United States signed a joint declaration on civil liability for nuclear damage. This declaration affirms the two countries’ commitment to contributing to the establishment of a global nuclear civil liability regime that ensures fair compensation for victims of nuclear accidents, as recommended by the IAEA. The declaration encourages states to accede to such a regime. France considers, in particular, that the revised Paris (and Brussels, Additional) and Vienna Conventions, as well as the Common Protocol on the Application of the Paris and Vienna Conventions, constitute an appropriate basis for compensation for nuclear damage.

Russia has put in force a civil nuclear liability regime through a combination of international commitments and national legislation. Russia ratified the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage in 2005. Russian national legislation incorporates key principles of the convention.

The United Kingdom is Party to the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Paris Convention) and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy (Brussels Supplementary Convention). These are implemented domestically through the Nuclear Installations Act 1965.

The United States’ domestic civil nuclear liability regime is governed by the 1957 Price-Anderson Act, which accords with U.S.-specific tort law. The United States did not did not sign the Protocol to Amend the Vienna Convention, nor is it party to the underlying Vienna Convention or to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy, because those conventions do not take into account the U.S. system of tort liability.

The United States did, however, become party to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage in 2008, noting that its national law complied with the provisions of the Annex to the Convention. The treaty entered into force in April 2015.