UAE signs important nuclear liability treaty



ABU DHABI // The UAE has joined an international treaty on nuclear liability, which encompasses several global conventions.

In doing so, the country has completed a signatory list of international treaties regarding nuclear energy, safety, security and non-proliferation.

On Monday, Hamad Alkaabi, the UAE ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), signed the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC).

“The UAE is taking the lead again in setting a good example by joining the [convention],” Mr Alkaabi said after submitting the ratification document to the IAEA’s director general, Yukiya Amano, in Vienna.

“International nuclear liability conventions, such as the CSC, provide a framework which is consistent with the UAE’s responsible approach in developing a safe and secure nuclear energy programme.”

Prior to becoming a CSC signatory, the UAE had signed a set of international conventions designed to provide compensation for damages arising from nuclear accidents. These conventions, which form an international nuclear liability regime, include the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage (as amended by the 1997 Protocol) and the Joint Protocol Relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention.

Under the international nuclear liability framework, the operator of a nuclear facility is solely and exclusively liable for damages arising from a nuclear incident.

cmalek@thenational.ae