Convention on Nuclear Safety (CNS)
Ongoing

The CNS is an incentive convention that aims to, inter alia, achieve and maintain a high level of nuclear safety worldwide through the enhancement of national measures and international co-operation including, where appropriate, safety-related technical co-operation.

  • Adopted: 17 June 1994
  • Opened for signature: 20 September 1994
  • Entered into force: 24 October 1996
  • Parties: 94 parties (including EURATOM) (see table below)

More information on the CNS, including the text and current status, is available here.

The following articles related to the CNS were published in the Nuclear Law Bulletin and Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law:

  • The Convention on Nuclear Safety, by O. Jankowitsch (NLB 54, p. 9).
  • The IAEA Nuclear Safety Conventions: An example of Successful "Treaty Management", by G. Handl (NLB 72, p. 7).
  • The "Incentive" Concept as Developed in the Nuclear Safety Conventions and its Possible Extension to Other Sectors, by T. De Wright (NLB 80, p. 29).
  • The post-Fukushima Daiichi response: The role of the Convention on Nuclear Safety in strengthening the legal framework for nuclear safety, by P. L. Johnson (NLB 91, p. 7).
  • Towards a new international framework for nuclear safety: Developments from Fukushima to Vienna, by E. Durand‑Poudret (NLB 95, p. 27).
  • Treaty implementation applied to conventions on nuclear safety, by M. Montjoie (NLB 96, p. 9).
  • Inside nuclear baseball: Reflections on the development of the safety conventions, by C. Stoiber (NLB 100, p. 61).
  • The impact of the major nuclear power plant accidents on the international legal framework for nuclear power, by S.G. Burns (NLB 101, p. 7), updated in Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 83.
  • A perspective on key legal considerations for performance-based regulating, by E. Dandy (NLB 103, p. 7).
  • International legal framework on nuclear safety: Developments, challenges and opportunities, by W. Tonhauser, A. Wetherall and L. Thiele (Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 121)
  • Regulation, licensing and oversight of nuclear activities, by S.G. Burns, K.S. Nick, C. Raetzke and L. Thiele (Principles and Practice of International Nuclear Law, p. 167)

 

Parties to the Convention on Nuclear Safety

Albania Denmark Luxembourg Senegal
Angola Egypt Madagascar Serbia
Argentina* Estonia Mali Singapore
Armenia* Finland* Malta Slovak Republic*
Australia France* Mexico* Slovenia*
Austria Germany Moldova South Africa*
Bahrain Ghana Montenegro Spain*
Bangladesh Greece Morocco Sri Lanka
Belarus* Hungary* Myanmar Sweden*
Belgium* Iceland Netherlands* Switzerland*
Benin India* Niger Syrian Arab Republic
Bolivia Indonesia Nigeria Thailand
Bosnia and Herzegovina Iraq North Macedonia Tunisia
Brazil* Ireland Norway Türkiye
Bulgaria* Italy Oman Ukraine*
Cambodia Japan* Pakistan* United Arab Emirates*
Canada* Jordan Paraguay United Kingdom*
Chile Kazakhstan Peru United States*
China* Korea* Poland Uruguay
Congo Kuwait Portugal Viet Nam
Croatia Latvia Qatar Zimbabwe
Cuba Lebanon Romania* EURATOM
Cyprus Libya Russia*  
Czechia* Lithuania Saudi Arabia  

* Country with at least one nuclear power plant in operation.