Nuclear liability

Austria considers the international nuclear liability systems to be highly unsatisfactory, as they stipulate, among other things, upper liability limits, the channelling of liability exclusively to the operator of a nuclear facility and the jurisdiction of the courts according to the location of the injuring party. This is why Austria has not ratified any of the existing agreements. The Austrian Nuclear Liability Act (AtomHG, Federal Law Gazette I No. 170/1998), on the other hand, defines the place of jurisdiction as the place where the damage occurs, there is no upper limit of liability and in certain cases suppliers or maintenance companies can also be made liable. Austria is campaigning internationally for these key provisions to be included in international nuclear liability systems, but can hardly count on allies in this regard.

Following the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, the issue of liability for nuclear damage has once again come to the fore. A standardised European or international nuclear liability regime has been and continues to be called for many times. The European Commission has already announced a proposal on this topic several times, but it has not yet been presented. In principle, EU-wide harmonisation of nuclear liability rules would be welcome. From an Austrian perspective, however, the applicability of the principles of the Austrian Atomic Energy Act must not be broken in any way.

At international level, there are two nuclear liability systems - the Paris/Brussels system under the OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency and the Vienna system under the IAEA - with largely analogous regulatory systems. As a bridge between these liability systems, there is a joint protocol on the application of the Vienna and Paris Conventions of 21 September 1988.

In addition, there is the Convention of 29 September 1997 on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage. The aim of this agreement is to establish a global liability regime on the basis of basic liability and an additional financing instrument.

In accordance with Section 30 of the Atomic Energy Act, the Federal Government had to report to the National Council by 31 December 2001 at the latest and every three years thereafter on the development of international liability instruments for nuclear damage, in particular on the extent of the compensation amounts available at international level.