The accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in 1986 heightened awareness of the need to improve the international legal framework governing the safe and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Numerous legal instruments have subsequently been adopted.
This compendium examines the developments which have taken place in international nuclear law since 1986. It reproduces a number of articles which have been published in the OECD/NEA Nuclear Law Bulletin, accompanied by some previously unpublished works. The principal legal instruments examined in this publication govern early notification and assistance in the event of a nuclear accident, nuclear safety, the safety of radioactive waste and spent fuel, and nuclear liability and compensation.