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Disaster Law

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University of Washington School of Law

2012

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

Introduction: The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Disaster And The Future Of Nuclear Energy Programs In Japan And East Asia, Hiroshi Fukurai Jun 2012

Introduction: The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Disaster And The Future Of Nuclear Energy Programs In Japan And East Asia, Hiroshi Fukurai

Washington International Law Journal

On March 11, 2011, a massive 9.0 magnitude quake and powerful tsunami slammed the northeastern region of Japan. Huge seismic activities knocked out the power at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant, and ensuing tidal waves disabled the backup generators for cooling systems to the active reactors. This triggered a series of hydrogen explosions and released dangerously high levels of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The Japanese government declared a nuclear emergency, due to the worst nuclear crisis in Japanese history, and decided to evacuate 140,000 residents within twenty kilometers of the plant to various relocation centers


Corporate Liability, Government Liability, And The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Eri Osaka Jun 2012

Corporate Liability, Government Liability, And The Fukushima Nuclear Disaster, Eri Osaka

Washington International Law Journal

This article focuses on the liability issues arising from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. The radioactivity released from the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant inflicted catastrophic harm to people, industries, and the environment. Under Japanese law, a nuclear operator bears strict, channeling, and unlimited liability for nuclear damage unless the damage is caused by a grave natural disaster of an exceptional character. This article concludes the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami that triggered this nuclear accident do not fall within this exemption because neither of them were unforeseeable nor far beyond the design basis for the reactors at the plant. …


Proving Corporate Criminal Liability For Negligence In Vessel Management And Operations: An Allision-Oil Spill Case Study, Craig H. Allen Jan 2012

Proving Corporate Criminal Liability For Negligence In Vessel Management And Operations: An Allision-Oil Spill Case Study, Craig H. Allen

Articles

Maritime policy analysts often invoke the "vessel safety net" metaphor to explain the independent, but overlapping, risk management roles and responsibilities of the vessel master and crew, owner and charterer, operating company, classification society, flag state and port states. Oil spills from the 2002 M/T Prestige break up off the coast of Galicia, Spain, the 2007 M/V Cosco Busan bridge allision in San Francisco Bay and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon debacle in the Gulf of Mexico, among others, demonstrate that any or all of the components of that safety net may come under scrutiny following a marine casualty, possibly leading …