Transportable nuclear power plants: An enigma of international nuclear liability law

Abstract

On 28th April 2018, the world's only transportable nuclear power plant (TNPP) 'Academic Lomonosov' has left St Petersburg and headed to its base in Chukotka. These developments again triggered the attention of the legal community to various legal aspects of the TNPPs. In this context, different opinions concerning the applicability of the existing nuclear liability conventions vis-á-vis TNPPs were expressed. According to one line of interpretation, the existing nuclear liability conventions do apply also to a TNPP anchored at a coast to deliver electricity to the grid. This article questions such opinion. It argues, that a TNPP cannot be considered a 'nuclear installation' in the sense of the existing nuclear liability conventions, when anchored at the coast. In this respect, the article identifies bilateral agreements between the licensing State and the host State to only viable option to address the liability issues arising from a TNPP entering foreign waters to deliver electricity to the domestic grid there.