Searching for a Trans-Boundary Nuclear Liability Regime in the China and ASEAN Area: Legal Principles and Challenges

Abstract

To date, none of the countries in the China and ASEAN Area (“Area”) has enacted any laws governing trans-boundary nuclear liability and ratified the prominent convention relating to nuclear liability, the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (“CSC”). Given the geographical proximity between China and ASEAN, any weakness of the nuclear liability framework, such as the inability to claim relief for a trans-boundary incident, will likely lead to stronger resistance to nuclear energy. Hence, the nuclear liability regime needs to be robust enough to fairly compensate all injured parties if and when an accident occurs in the Area. Currently, the international nuclear community has proposed two main approaches to establish a nuclear liability regime in the Area, namely, the ratification of the CSC, and the cooperation to form a regional nuclear liability regime between China and ASEAN. Regardless of the approach to be adopted in the future, the purpose of this article is to identify the potential challenges hindering China and ASEAN to develop an applicable nuclear liability regime.