Vienna: Over 100 delegates met in Vienna last month to accelerate the establishment of a global nuclear liability regime under the framework of a global convention. The Fifth Meeting of the Contracting Parties and Signatories to the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) was held at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna, Austria, on 23-26 June 2025.

According to EMM, industry participants highlighted the need to establish a global nuclear liability regime based on the CSC, which would provide legal certainty to stakeholders in the nuclear industry worldwide, including operators, insurers, suppliers, and investors. The meeting also provided a forum for further practical discussions related to the operation of the CSC.

Ben McRae, Chair of the Fifth Meeting and Assistant General Counsel for Civilian Nuclear Programs at the US Department of Energy, stated that the CSC is the best way to address nuclear liability, as it minimizes supply chain concerns and increases investor confidence. A specialist panel discussed the importance of the CSC with reference to the impact of nuclear liability on the cost of nuclear projects.

The meeting successfully demonstrated growing momentum towards broad adherence to the CSC, which already covers approximately forty percent of nuclear power plants in the world. This offers the only pathway to universal participation in a global nuclear liability regime, McRae noted.

Anthony Wetherall, Head of the Nuclear and Treaty Law Section in the IAEA Office of Legal Affairs, emphasized the CSC’s role as a crucial component in establishing a global nuclear liability regime, as called for annually by the IAEA General Conference.

The CSC was adopted under IAEA auspices in 1997 and is the only international nuclear liability convention to cover this number of nuclear power reactors worldwide. The convention serves as an umbrella for all countries that are parties to one of the existing international nuclear liability conventions or have national legislation in place that conforms to the basic nuclear liability principles specified in the annex to the CSC.

The inaugural meeting of the CSC Parties and Signatories was held in Ottawa, Canada, in 2019, during which the IAEA accepted the request of the Parties to act as the Secretariat for, and convene, future meetings of the Parties on a regular basis.