A European Legal Framework for Nuclear Liability

A book series devoted to the common foundations of the European legal systems. The Ius Commune Europaeum series includes comparative legal studies as well as studies on the effect of treaties within national legal systems. All areas of the law are covered. The books are published in various European languages under the auspices of METRO, the Institute for Transnational Legal Research at Maastricht University.

A European Legal Framework for Nuclear Liability discusses nuclear liability and the interplay of the different stakeholders involved in the nuclear sector. It highlights shortcomings of the current liability regimes, suggests alternatives and calls for a more active role of the European Union in the area of nuclear liability. Contrary to existing literature, it refocuses the discussion of nuclear liability in the European Union away from the Euratom Treaty, arguing that the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union could also provide a sufficient legal basis for a European nuclear liability regime.

The book presents a proposal for a harmonised European liability regime and discusses possibilities to enhance the feasibility of such a reform. It calls for a stronger involvement of the public in the nuclear sector and emphasises the intrinsic link between effective safety regulation and liability and compensation mechanisms. It also describes the need to find ways in which safety regulation and liability rules can mutually reinforce each other.

This book sets out the regulation of nuclear energy and pressing legal questions to do with the commercial exploitation of nuclear energy. Equally it will be of interest for government officials, policy advisors, environmental agencies and other practitioners in the nuclear sector.