About 40 legal advisors, officials and experts from 14 countries in Asia and the Pacific participated in a sub-regional workshop on nuclear law from 8 to 12 August in Hanoi, Viet Nam. Bilateral meetings were also held with country representatives on support that the IAEA can provide through 2024 under a regional project.
During the five-day workshop, participants and IAEA representatives discussed the international and national legal frameworks for the safe, secure and peaceful use of nuclear technology and its applications. Presentations included an overview of the nuclear legal framework in each country, as well as developments since the previous workshop in 2019, in Jakarta, Indonesia. IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi emphasized that "nuclear law is a highly specialized and technical area of law. Getting all the parts needed to work as a whole takes a degree of 'legal engineering.' Through the IAEA Legislative Assistance Programme, we support our Member States in the region by making nuclear law-making easier. We continue to support them in making progress, resulting in the adoption of several comprehensive nuclear laws in recent years."
Nearly half of the represented countries have enacted nuclear legislation in the past six years, while others have either worked on draft nuclear legislation or expressed interest to work on preparing such legislation. Many of the countries are not party to the nuclear safety and security instruments, and none are party to the modernized nuclear liability instruments.
"This workshop is significant in the context of the process of reviewing and amending the Law on Atomic Energy after 15 years of implementation since 2008," said Le Xuan Dinh, Viet Nam Deputy Minister of Science and Technology. He noted the value of learning about countries' challenges and experiences, "as well as the IAEA's valuable and continued support to key decision makers regarding the importance of joining and implementing the legal instruments adopted under IAEA auspices."
The benefits of regional activities, such as a regional workshop on the 1997 Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, and the need for tailored sub-regional activities on nuclear law for Pacific Islands were discussed.
Do Hung Viet, Viet Nam Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs, underlined the current challenges and the importance of a collective response. "We are facing the most serious socioeconomic and health crisis, energy and food shortages, and climate change. Such challenges require short-term actions and long-term measures to be addressed effectively and collectively," he said. "We believe that international cooperation, especially through multilateral fora, including the IAEA, is essential to apply nuclear energy for peaceful purposes."
The IAEA organized the workshop in cooperation with the Government of Viet Nam through the Viet Nam Atomic Energy Agency (VAEA), the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of International Organizations of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. "An event such as this one is an opportunity to support states in their legislative advances, while enabling international and regional cooperation," said Gashaw Wolde, Head of the Division for Asia and Pacific at the IAEA.
We believe that international cooperation, especially through multilateral fora, including the IAEA, is essential to apply nuclear energy for peaceful purposes
Representatives from 14 Asian countries attended the workshop. (Photo: VAEA)
