On The Tort Liability Of A Nuclear Accident

With the rise of nuclear energy use and the increasing nuclear accident, the tortliability of a nuclear accident becomes an important topic of legal research. Whetherthe damage caused by a nuclear accident can get reasonable remedy is up to thecognizance of the tort liability of a nuclear accident. The cognizance of the tortliability of a nuclear accident is beneficial to establish the risk awareness of theliable party. In order to avoid the responsibility for the tort liability of a nuclearaccident, the liable party will take appropriate measures to improve the businessactivities relating to a nuclear facility, to minimize the occurrence of a nuclearaccident. This article will discuss issues on the tort liability of a nuclear accidentmainly within the scope of existing laws and regulations in China.The tort liability of a nuclear accident is the responsibility taken by the operatorwhen there is nuclear damage caused by a nuclear accident on a civil nuclear facility.The nuclear accident is a certain degree of nuclear event caused by a civil nuclearfacility, which generally should reach Grade4or above it in the InternationalNuclear Event Scale. The different types of the nuclear damage are nuclear personalinjury, nuclear property damage, nuclear psychological damage and nuclearenvironmental damage. Nuclear personal injury refers to damage to people’s right tolife and right to health caused by the nuclear accident. Nuclear property damagerefers to the economic loss of victims when the nuclear accident infringes people’sproperty rights and personal rights. Nuclear psychological damage refers to seriousmental damage when the nuclear accident infringes personal rights or certainproperty rights. Nuclear environmental damage mainly refers to the expenditure ofenvironmental restoration measures costs, which is economic loss caused by damageto the environment itself. The tort liability of a nuclear accident adopts theresponsibility centralism, which means that the operator is the only subject of the tortliability of a nuclear accident. The operator enjoys the right of recovery under certainconditions after making compensation for the victim. The imputation principle of the tort liability of a nuclear accident is the basisand the standard to determine the attribution of the tort liability of a nuclear accident,or it refers to special reasons to make the subject assume the tort liability. Becauselegitimacy and risk of operation of nuclear facilities co-exist, the tort liability of anuclear accident adopts the principle of liability without fault. But the actor shall notbe liable for any harm that is caused intentionally by the victim or by a situation suchas war. Liability without fault can protect the victims of nuclear accidents better. It isstricter to exempt from the tort liability of a nuclear accident than a common riskincident, and the natural disaster is even not exemption from the tort liability of anuclear accident.The establishment of the tort liability of a nuclear accident and thedetermination of the scope of compensation are due to clearing the causationbetween a nuclear accident and nuclear damage. If there is not causation between anuclear accident and nuclear damage, the operator of a nuclear facility is notresponsible for the damage, that is to say, no causation no liability. The adequatecausation theory is the criterion of causation of the tort liability of a nuclear accident,which includes adequate causation on the establishment of the tort liability of anuclear accident and adequate causation on the scope of the tort liability of a nuclearaccident. Conditional relation and adequacy are two important factors for causation.It is difficult to prove the existence of the adequate causation for the victim becauseof the complexity of a nuclear accident. So the main burden of proof is imposed onthe operator by the law. The victim only needs to prove the probability of causationbetween a nuclear accident and nuclear damage, but the operator must prove thatthere is not adequate causation. Otherwise, the operator will bear the adverseconsequence.The operator often can’t afford the huge damages caused by the tort liability ofa nuclear accident, and the insurance company is not willing to provide insurance forthe risk exceeding its ability. In order to promote the development of nuclear energyenterprise, the state imposes restrictions on the compensation amount and duration ofthe tort liability of a nuclear accident. The restrictions are mainly embodied in theamount of money and the time. That can limit the risk of operating, so as to enhance the development of nuclear energy enterprise. The operator’s compensation limit forChina’s tort liability of a nuclear accident is300million yuan or100million yuandue to the different types of operators. The compensation limit of the nuclear powerplant operator and the spent fuel storage, transportation, post-processing operators is300million yuan, and that of other operators is100million yuan. The limitation ofaction for the tort liability of a nuclear accident should be three years from the datewhen the victims know or should know the nuclear damage. The maximumlimitation of action for personal injury is thirty years from the date of a nuclearaccident, and that for other damage is ten years from the date of a nuclear accident.