Vienna: The UAE has joined the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC), an international treaty that provides an umbrella framework for a number of international liability conventions.

As a signatory to the convention, the UAE is bound by its guidelines for compensation in the unlikely event of a nuclear accident.

Hamad Al Kaabi, UAE Permanent Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), signed the pact in Vienna on Monday and handed over the ratification document to Yukiya Amano, IAEA Director General, during a ceremony attended by the agency’s senior staff.

“UAE is taking the lead again in setting a good example by joining the Supplementary Compensation Convention,” said Al Kaabi.

“International nuclear liability conventions, such as the CSC, provide a framework which is consistent with the UAE’s responsible approach in developing a safe and secure nuclear energy programme,” he added.

The UAE has previously joined a set of international conventions designed to provide compensation for damage arising from nuclear incidents. These conventions, which form an international nuclear liability regime, include the 1963 Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, as amended by the 1997 Protocol, and the Joint Protocol relating to the Application of the Vienna Convention and the Paris Convention.

The UAE issued its Federal Law on Nuclear Liability in 2012, which aims to regulate the provisions and determine the scope of the civil liability and compensation for Nuclear Damage that could occur as a result of a nuclear accident. The law concludes the financial security that the nuclear operator must maintain and further elaborates upon the implementation of international obligations in relation to civil liability for nuclear damage.

Under the International nuclear liability framework, the operator of a nuclear facility is solely and exclusively liable for damages arising from a nuclear incident.

By joining the CSC today, the UAE has completed the list of international treaties related to nuclear energy, nuclear safety, security and non-proliferation as outlined in the UAE Policy on the Evaluation and Potential Development of Peaceful Nuclear Energy.