Study On Accountability Specified In The Nuclear Safety Legislation Draft

China is one of the few countries with an integrated nuclear industrial chain system in the world.The nuclear industry has always been one of the strategic industries in China and the government has shown great determination and confidence on the development of nuclear energy.By 2020,all the nuclear power units including the ones both in operation and in construction will be ranked second in the world.However,the Fukushima nuclear accident in 2011 sounded an alarm to the global energy,and also sapped the confidence of the populace in nuclear safety.The major issues that need to be addressed are how to effectually control nuclear safety risks,ensure nuclear safety,coordinate national development strategies and public safety needs.Therefore,it is our inevitable choice to perfect the legal system of nuclear safety and establish a more authoritative,effective and transparent system.Therefore,the Nuclear Safety Law(draft)comes into being.As the first law in the field of nuclear safety,it defines the concept of “nuclear safety” at the legal level for the first time and sets out the nuclear safety responsibilities of various subjects,establishes various systems and measures,and emphasizes the principles of information disclosure and public participation.The formulation of the Nuclear Safety Law(draft)efficaciously fills the gaps in the field of nuclear energy and embodies the modern nuclear safety management concepts centered on the rule of law and the regulation of the system.First of all,nuclear safety is the lifeblood of the development of nuclear undertakings.Meanwhile,nuclear safety responsibility is the prerequisite and foundation of nuclear safety.Although the Nuclear Safety Draft Law has specified the nuclear safety responsibility of 12 categories of subjects,there is no provision for the responsibility of the nuclear power group that owns some nuclear power plants,nor does it emphasize the responsibility of the person in charge of the operating unit,which may lead to the fact that the operating unit blurs its nuclear safety responsibility.Therefore,it is proposed to formulate the implementation details to reflect the relationship between nuclear power plants and nuclear power groups,and define clear responsibility of the nuclear power group.It is also proposed to define clear responsibility of the operating corporation principal according to the safety production law.Secondly,the Nuclear Safety Draft Law simply stipulates the basic principles of nuclear damage compensation,which cannot guide the major nuclear accident damage compensation.Thus,it is necessary to learn from the mature experience of foreign nuclear legislation to establish specialized nuclear damage compensation law and system and make it suitable for China's national conditions.Finally,the decommissioning of nuclear facilities and the treatment of radioactive waste have become the bottlenecks in nuclear energy development,but the Nuclear Safety Draft Law only sets out the licensing system of nuclear facilities decommissioning and the basic principles of radioactive waste disposal.We need to plan ahead to develop key technologies,train specialized personnel,introduce regulations for the decommissioning of nuclear facilities,and conduct legislation on radioactive waste management.The draft of the nuclear safety legislation has a problem that the individual administrative law is too light and the criminal legal liability is too simple.It is recommended that the chapter on liability is amended in conjunction with the particularity of nuclear technology.