Nuclear Regulation Law

The Nuclear Regulation Law No. 7381 (“The Law”) [1] has entered into force through its publication in the Official Gazette dated 08 March 2022 and numbered 31772.

The purpose of this Law; it determine based on the principle of peaceful use, the principles and principles to be applied for the protection of employees, the public, the environment and future generations from the possible harmful effects of ionizing radiation during the execution of activities related to nuclear energy and ionizing radiation, the responsibilities of the parties, and the authority of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority, which has regulatory control over these activities and responsibilities and legal liability for nuclear damages resulting from nuclear incidents.

The law covers activities related to nuclear energy and ionizing radiation and the persons, facilities, devices and substances related to these activities.

The regulations made within the scope of the Nuclear Regulatory Law have been examined as below.

1) Authorization and Supervision of the Nuclear Regulatory Authority

The Nuclear Regulatory Authority (“Authority”) was established with the Law. The Law has given broad powers to the Authority by restricting the authority of other public and organizations regarding nuclear activities.

The actions within the scope of this Law cannot be carried out without notifying the Authority or obtaining authorization from the Authority. From the Authority; i) Preparing the site for the nuclear facility, manufacturing the equipment determined by the Authority, constructing the facility, ii) Putting the radiation facility into operation, decommissioning, and making changes concerning safety and security in the facility, iii) Construction, commissioning, decommissioning, closure of the facility for the radioactive waste facility, and making changes concerning safety and security in the facility, iv) Exporting, importing, transporting, transiting radioactive materials, v) Within the scope of nuclear assurance, materials, materials, equipment, systems, components and related technology and nuclear dual-use materials, materials, equipment, systems, components and related technologies specially designed or prepared for use in the nuclear field export of technology, vi) Import of substances, materials, equipment, systems, components or related technology determined by the Authority within the scope of nuclear assurance, vii) It is obligatory to obtain permission for other actions determined by the Authority, taking into account security, safety and nuclear assurance.

Within the scope of the competences regulated in the Law, the Authority; has the right to issue licenses, permits and authorization certificates.

The actions and authorized persons within the scope of this Law are subject to the supervision of the Authority. The Authority; authorized persons are also authorized to supervise the actions of contractors, subcontractors, suppliers and sub-suppliers. The Inspections can be carried out with or without notice, with or without a schedule, on any day of the year and at any time of the day, including public holidays.

2) Legal Liability for Nuclear Damage

According to The Law; the legal person authorized to operate a nuclear facility by the Authority or by the authorities in its country, the legal person who established the nuclear facility in the period before the license to operate the nuclear facility was obtained, and the legal person whose license was canceled in the period until a new operator is determined after the license granted to operate the nuclear facility is cancelled will be considered as the operator.

In the Law, the responsibility of the operator is explained with the danger liability, which is one of the cases of strict liability. The operator will be responsible for nuclear damages and payment of compensations, regardless of whether he/she, his/her personnel and the technology, goods and service providers of the facility have any fault in the occurrence of the nuclear incident.

However, if the operator proves that the nuclear incident is caused by the intent or gross negligence of the nuclear damaged person; the operator can only be relieved of partial or total liability with the decision of the competent court against this person who has suffered nuclear damage.

With this; the law obliges those engaged in nuclear actions to have nuclear insurance or to provide other coverage. This insurance or coverage will only be used for compensation for nuclear damage in the event of a nuclear incident.

The people suffering from nuclear damage may claim their damages directly from the operator as well as from the insurer, nuclear insurance pool and other collateral providers, and may also file a lawsuit directly with a claim for compensation. The another issue stipulated in the Law is that in case the nuclear damage exceeds the limits of the determined amount of responsibility, a Nuclear Damage Detection Commission can be established in order to assess the applications of those who have been harmed from the nuclear actions and render decisions on the applications.

Regarding the compensation lawsuits to be filed by the parties damaged by nuclear activities in the Law; the operator's right of recourse, a special statute of limitations, and the competent court have also been regulated.

The Law has entered into force on its publication dated March 8, 2022.

This information note has been prepared by Meltem Oruç and has been published in Mondaq first.

[1] Official Gazette numbered 31772 dated March 8, 2022. Accessed on 9 March 2022 from the link below: https://www.resmigazete.gov.tr/eskiler/2022/03/20220308-1.htm