Radioactive transport as an ultrahazardous activity

["Steven G. Sawhill" <sgsawhill@charter.net>]

I am seeking information on whether there is a legal precedent to 

consider transport of radioactive materials an "ultrahazardous 

activity" under international or domestic law.



Duncan E. J. Currie and Jon M. Van Dyke have labeled the transport of 

radioactive materials an "ultrahazardous activity" (see: The shipment 

of ultrahazardous nuclear materials in international law, Review of 

European Community and International Environmental Law, vol. 8, no. 2, 

1999). The authors do not explain their use of this legal term, and to 

my knowledge, they are the only authors who have used the term in this 

context.



Under U.S. tort law, "An activity is ultrahazardous if it (a) 

necessarily involves a risk of serious harm to the person, land or 

chattels of others which cannot be eliminated by the exercise of the 

utmost care, and (b) is not a matter of common usage." Whether an 

activity is ultrahazardous is a question of law to be determined by a 

court. In general, the factors U.S. courts consider in determining 

whether a particular activity is abnormally dangerous or ultrahazardous 

are: (a) existence of a high degree of risk of some harm to the person, 

land or chattels of others; (b) likelihood that the harm that results 

from it will be great; (c) inability to eliminate the risk by the 

exercise of reasonable care; (d) extent to which the activity is not a 

matter of common usage; (e) inappropriateness of the activity to the 

place where it is carried on; and (f) extent to which its value to the 

community is outweighed by its dangerous attributes.



I have not found any references that a U.S. court has determined 

radioactive materials transport to be an ultrahazardous activity. Is 

anyone aware of such a determination? Is the usage of this term common 

in nuclear law, in either an international or domestic context?



Sincerely,

Steven G. Sawhill

University of Cambridge



sgsawhill@charter.net



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