More than 500 participants from 90 countries attended the IAEA webinar, Nuclear Law in Practice: the IAEA Perspective, on 15 December 2020. The event provided a forum for individuals and organizations from industry, law firms, NGOs, civil society and academia, as well as to the wider public, to learn about nuclear law and the IAEA’s role in this field. The recording of the webinar can be accessed here.
In the opening of the webinar, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi highlighted that “nuclear law addresses a highly complex, specialized and technical field, which he said “can make it seem inaccessible even to experts in other areas of law, let alone diplomats, scientists and the general public.” He continued that the aim of the webinar was “to shed some more light on what we do, how we do it and why we do it within the context of nuclear law.”
The webinar featured a presentation by Peri Lynne Johnson, IAEA Legal Adviser and Director of the Office of Legal Affairs (OLA), who addressed the role of the IAEA, including in nuclear law. Wolfram Tonhauser, Head of the IAEA’s Nuclear and Treaty Law Section, provided an introduction to international and national nuclear law.
The IAEA hosted the nuclear law webinar in response to expressed interest from various groups, including industry, law firms, civil society and academia, following its webinar series on nuclear law for government officials, launched in October 2020.
