Centre for International Law Podcasts

Nuclear Matters Ep 2: Fundamentals of Nuclear Safety

June 24, 2020

The CIL Nuclear Law and Policy Team is joined in conversation by Dr Charles D Ferguson, Director of Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and former President of the Federation of American Scientists. This episode touches on key nuclear safety concepts such as safety culture and defence-in-depth; the different reactor technologies and their safety features and safety concerns surrounding nuclear waste. This is the second of a four-part series on the fundamentals of nuclear safety, security and safeguards and their inter-relationships.

Note: The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) and do not represent the views of the Centre for International Law.

Nuclear Matters Ep 1: Backgrounder on the Fundamentals of Nuclear Safety, Security and Safeguards

June 24, 2020

The CIL Nuclear Law and Policy Team is joined in conversation by Dr Charles D Ferguson, Director of Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine and former President of the Federation of American Scientists. In this episode, key concepts relevant to understanding nuclear safety, security and safeguards including the difference between nuclear energy and nuclear power, ionising radiation and the nuclear fuel cycle are discussed. This is the first of a four-part series on the fundamentals of nuclear safety, security and safeguards and their inter-relationships.

Note: The opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the speaker(s) and do not represent the views of the Centre for International Law.

Nuclear Matters Ep 0: Introduction to Nuclear Law and Policy - A New Focus for CIL

May 29, 2020

CIL Head of Nuclear Law and Policy, Denise Cheong, provides an overview of how and why nuclear law and policy became a new focus area at CIL and introduces “Nuclear Matters at CIL”

CIL Podcast: In Conversation with Dean Simon Chesterman

April 28, 2020

Dr Romesh Weeramantry, Head of International Dispute Resolution at CIL, speaks to the Dean of the NUS Law Faculty, Professor Simon Chesterman, about The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Asia and the Pacific, which Dean Chesterman co-edited with Judge Hisashi Owada and Professor Ben Saul. The podcast also covers current issues such as the regional strategic competition between the U.S. and China, and the international response to COVID-19, as well as Dean Chesterman’s advice to young scholars on research and writing.

One of the many subjects covered in the podcast relates to the role international law can play in international affairs. Dean Chesterman observes that he sometimes sees international law as:

‘[T]he grammar of international relations. If you break grammatical rules, you don’t go to prison but you make less sense… you are less able to persuade people to come onto your side and as a result costs ensue…. I hope that international law will provide the kind of language that will encourage the better angels of the great powers like the United States and China… to avoid a major fight…. And the hope is that international law can provide a convening space where the United States, China and others can get together, but also [provide] a mediating forum where the tensions can be resolved without a rift and certainly one hopes without a war.'