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Justifying attacks on nuclear facilities (2024)

Auteur	Ludovica Castelli & Olamide Samuel
	6-02-0-10-07.pdf
Datum	februari 2024
Classificatie	6.02.0.10/07 ((GEVOLGEN) MILITAIRE AANVALLEN)
Voorkant

Justifying attacks on nuclear facilities

Ludovica Castelli and Olamide Samuel

Keywords
nuclear facilities; radioactive
dispersal; international law;
Iran; Iraq; Israel; Russia;
United States; Zaporizhzhia;
Osirak

Introduction

Attacks against nuclear facilities have occurred since the dawn of the nuclear age. 
In1943, Allied forces carried out the first attack of this kind, targeting the Norsk 
Hydrohydrogen-electrolysis plant, a crucial element of Nazi Germany's effort to 
develop nuclear weapons. (1) From 1980 to 1988, Iran, Iraq, and Israel engaged in 
numerous attacks on nuclear facilities in the contexts of both jus in bello (notably 
during the Iran-Iraq War)-and jus ad bellum.(2) In 1991 and 1993, during the Gulf 
War and in its immediate aftermath, the United States carried out attacks on Iraqi 
nuclear  facilities. In September 2007, Israel secretly attacked a suspected nuclear 
facility in Al-Kibar, Syria. It is worth noting that the legal context of the latter 
two cases is more complex than that of the earlier instances of attacks, given the 
particular circumstances in which the attacks took place. (3)
More recently, the Russian military attacks on the Chernobyl and Zaporizhzhia 
nuclear facilities in Ukraine-conducted in the context of jus in bello-sparked global 
condemnation because of concerns over radioactive fallout, highlighting-once again-
the potential security, humanitarian, and environmental ramifications uniquely 
associated with attacks on nuclear facilities. 4 Russia's coercive strategy has 
involved attacks on nuclear facilities as a part of a wider campaign to obliterate 
critical national  infrastructure in Ukraine. As the Russian invasion demonstrates, 
risks of mass  destruction could potentially accompany such attacks.