[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 31, Number 19 (Monday, May 15, 1995)]
[Pages 813-814]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Senate Transmitting the Convention on Nuclear Safety

May 11, 1995

To the Senate of the United States:

    I transmit herewith, for Senate advice and consent to ratification, 
the Convention on Nuclear Safety done at Vienna on September 20, 1994. 
This Convention was adopted by a Diplomatic Conference convened by the 
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in June 1994 and was opened 
for signature in Vienna on September 20, 1994, during the IAEA General 
Conference. Secretary of Energy O'Leary signed the Convention for the 
United States on that date. Also transmitted for the information of the 
Senate is the report of the Department of State concerning the 
Convention.
    At the September 1991 General Conference of the IAEA, a resolution 
was adopted, with U.S. support, calling for the IAEA secretariat to 
develop elements for a possible International Convention on Nuclear 
Safety. From 1992 to 1994, the IAEA convened seven expert working group 
meetings, in which the United States participated. The IAEA Board of 
Governors approved a draft text at its meeting in February 1994, after 
which the IAEA convened a Diplomatic Conference attended by 
representatives of more than 80 countries in June 1994. The final text 
of the Convention resulted from that Conference.
    The Convention establishes a legal obligation on the part of Parties 
to apply certain general safety principles to the construction, 
operation, and regulation of land-based civilian nuclear power plants 
under their jurisdic- 

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tion. Parties to the Convention also agree to submit periodic reports on 
the steps they are taking to implement the obligations of the 
Convention. These reports will be reviewed and discussed at review 
meetings of the Parties, at which each Party will have an opportunity to 
discuss and seek clarification of reports submitted by other Parties.
    The United States has initiated many steps to deal with nuclear 
safety, and has supported the effort to develop this Convention. With 
its obligatory reporting and review procedures, requiring Parties to 
demonstrate in international meetings how they are complying with safety 
principles, the Convention should encourage countries to improve nuclear 
safety domestically and thus result in an increase in nuclear safety 
worldwide. I urge the Senate to act expeditiously in giving its advice 
and consent to ratification.
                                            William J. Clinton
The White House,
May 11, 1995.