Cosmos 954 (1978)
A Soviet nuclear-powered satellite that fell on Canada in 1978, the only claim ever brought under the 1972 Liability Convention.
Cosmos 954 was an ocean reconnaissance satellite whose radar was powered by a small enriched uranium reactor. Its uncontrolled reentry scattered radioactive debris over tens of thousands of square miles of northern Canada, and the two countries had to mount a search campaign to find it. Canada based its claim on the launching state's absolute liability for damage caused on the surface of the Earth, with no need to prove fault. The matter was nevertheless settled by diplomatic agreement rather than by the claims commission the convention provides, and for roughly half the amount claimed. It remains the only time the treaty has been invoked, which says a lot about its limits: a state-to-state regime, slow, to which a private victim is never a party.
On January 24, 1978, Cosmos 954 reentered over the Northwest Territories; Canada claimed just over 6 million Canadian dollars from the USSR for search and cleanup costs, and accepted 3 million under the protocol signed on April 2, 1981.
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