ABSTRACT
As has been demonstrated, safety standards for the production of nuclear energy and the transportation of its constituent elements and by-products tend not to be included in general international policy on accident prevention. Instead, the responsibility for this lies with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), an IGO set up by the UN in 1957 to coordinate policy on both military and civilian uses of nuclear power. The IAEA has an International Nuclear Safety Advisory Group which has coordinated the establishment of a range of ‘Safety Principles’ and a ‘Codes of Practice on the International Transboundary Movement of Radioactive Waste’. Prompted by the Chernobyl disaster and the end of Cold War secrecy, the IAEA codified their most extensive legal instrument to date in the 1990s with the Convention on Nuclear Safety, which came into force in 1996. The Convention covers a range of issues including the siting and construction of power plants and emergency preparation. However, despite the implied strengthening of IAEA standards with the use of the term ‘convention’ in place of ‘principles’ and ‘codes of practice’, this is not a robust piece of legislation. In the IAEA’s own words: ‘The Convention is an incentive instrument. It is not designed to ensure fulfilment of obligations by Parties through control and sanction’ (IAEA 2003).
