The NEA Division of Nuclear Law (DNL) helps create sound national and international legal regimes required for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including as regards nuclear safety, international trade in nuclear materials and equipment, public engagement, issues of liability and compensation for nuclear damage, and to serve as a leading centre for nuclear law information and education.
To achieve this goal, the DNL:
The DNL supports the Nuclear Law Committee (NLC) in working to help ensure sound national and international legal regimes required for the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, including in the field of liability and compensation for nuclear damage, nuclear safety, international trade in nuclear materials and equipment, as well as public engagement. It also facilitates the integration of non-members in NLC work, as approved in the NEA Participation Plan for co-operation with non-members; and assisting members in implementing nuclear law assistance programmes in non-member countries. The DNL supports the NLC working parties, i.e. the Working Party on the Legal Aspects of Nuclear Safety (WPLANS), the Working Party on Nuclear Liability and Transport (WPNLT), as well as the Working Party on Deep Geological Repositories and Nuclear Liability (WPDGR), which has been established in co-ordination with the Committee on Radiological Protection and Public Health (CRPPH) and the Radioactive Waste Management Committee (RWMC).
The DNL works with the NLC and the Contracting Parties to the Paris Convention to help member countries to interpret, apply and modernise the international nuclear liability conventions and foster progress towards a global liability and compensation regime.
It encourages ratification and implementation of the 2004 Protocols to Amend the Paris Convention on Third Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention Supplementary to the Paris Convention, as well as ratification of other nuclear liability international instruments, i.e. the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, the 1997 Protocol to amend the Vienna Convention, the 1988 Joint Protocol relating to the application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention and the 1997 Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC).
The DNL provides current, online information on national legislation, regulatory and institutional frameworks and international protocols and conventions on nuclear activity and liability issues.
The Nuclear Law Bulletin (NLB) is published twice a year and includes the following:
The DNL is responsible for two educational programmes:
In addition, the DNL participates in, upon invitation, other nuclear law education programmes, particularly in countries of strategic importance to the NEA.
