The ‘Linkage Dilemma’: European States and the Prohibition of Attacks Against Nuclear Facilities

From the Allied targeting of the Norsk Hydro plant in Norway in 1943 to Russia’s occupation and shelling of Ukrainian nuclear facilities since 2022, such incidents have repeatedly exposed the radiological risks generated when nuclear infrastructure becomes entangled in armed conflict. Yet, their legal regulation has remained fragmented. This article asks how the debate on attacks against nuclear facilities has shaped the scope and limits of their protection under international law, and how European states’ interpretive and negotiating practices have contributed to this fragmentation. Drawing on archival and diplomatic sources, it argues that such attacks have never settled into a single legal category, but have instead been addressed through partially overlapping legal frameworks. It further shows that, during the 1980s, European states played a central role in producing the legal fragmentation that continues to influence the contemporary nuclear security regime.