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Concept
Nuclear law
Summary
Nuclear law is the law related to the peaceful uses of nuclear science and technology.
Nuclear energy poses special risks to the health and safety of persons and to the environment, risks that must be carefully managed.
However, nuclear material, bombs, and technology also hold the promise of significant benefits, in a variety of fields, from medicine and agriculture to electricity production and industry. A human activity that involves only hazards and no benefits calls for a legal regime of prohibition, not regulation. Thus a basic feature of nuclear energy legislation is its dual focus on risks and benefits.
The purpose and function of nuclear law is that of all law, namely to promote and to protect; to promote the development of nuclear science and technology and to protect mankind against any hazards possibly connected therewith.
On the promotional side of the palette, many kinds of public measures are found, such as outright subsidies for nuclear research and development, tax preferences for nuclear installations and nuclear insurance, indemnity and public coverage schemes for nuclear liability, "channelling" of liability for nuclear damage and other provisions.
On the protective side, nuclear law has two distinct aspects – the protection against radiation hazards connected with the peaceful application of nuclear energy and radioactive substances, and the prevention of non-peaceful uses of nuclear energy by means of the safeguards system developed for that purpose.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's Handbook on Nuclear Law gave a wide definition as "The body of special legal norms created to regulate the conduct of legal or natural persons engaged in activities related to fissionable materials,
ionizing radiation and exposure to natural sources of radiation."
There is, and has been right from its beginning, national law and international law. It is national public law in its constitutional, administrative, criminal and public health aspects. It is national private law as it regulates liability for nuclear damage.
Official source
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