A Study On Legal Issues Of National Responsibility Identification Of Radioactive Water Discharge Into The Sea

The construction of nuclear facilities has brought enormous social benefits to human society,but at the same time,nuclear accidents have occurred from time to time,such as the famous Chernobyl accident,the Three Mile Island accident in the United States,and the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011,all of which have brought a wake-up call on how to make better use of nuclear energy instead of using and developing it to bring catastrophic consequences to mankind.On April 13,2021,Japan formally announced that it would start discharging nuclear effluent into the sea in two years,a decision that has aroused concern from all quarters of the world,especially from China,South Korea,Russia and other countries,which have expressed serious concern and accused Japan of irresponsible attitude and behavior toward the global environment,urging the Japanese side to carefully consider the plan to discharge nuclear effluent into the sea.The international community has been lacking effective legal control over the discharge of nuclear sewage to the sea,and the effective legal control of state responsibility is a very important link.There are usually two ways for a state to discharge nuclear effluent into the sea,one is to discharge nuclear effluent directly into the sea,and the other is to discharge nuclear effluent after treatment,both of which may give rise to state responsibility.In determining the wrongfulness of the act of discharging nuclear sewage directly into the sea,it is usually discerned from the international treaties and customary international law that it violates,such as the act of discharging nuclear sewage directly into the sea,which will violate the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea,the London Dumping Convention,the Protocol to the London Dumping Convention,etc.It will also violate some customary international law,such as the principle of precautionary risk,the principle of the duty of care,the principle of non-injury to foreign environmental responsibility,etc.If nuclear sewage is discharged into the sea after treatment,this act is not prohibited by international law,and when this act leads to transboundary damage,the state needs to bear the responsibility for transboundary damage,and this responsibility is a kind of strict liability.With the advancement of science and technology,the acts or activities carried out by human beings for economic development are highly dangerous,and this is especially true for activities in the nuclear field.The damage caused by these dangerous activities is often huge,and the ability of private entities to compensate for nuclear damage is usually limited,and they are unable to bear the full amount of liability for nuclear damage,so they need the state as a backing to bear the liability for transboundary damage caused by the activities of nuclear facilities under its leadership and control.In the face of nuclear effluent discharge to the sea,the international community should unite and cooperate to uphold the concept of marine community of destiny.In order to prevent and reduce the damage caused by nuclear sewage discharge to the country,China should take emergency measures in a timely manner,predict and monitor the nuclear sewage pollution situation,set up special institutions to collect and organize evidence when nuclear sewage discharge occurs,and use international judicial procedures to defend its legitimate rights and interests when necessary.At the same time to actively promote international legislation and judicial cooperation,to reduce the difficulties and obstacles to accountability,to effectively safeguard the interests of China’s marine environment,to protect the lives and health of the Chinese people.