Government of India has allocated about $234 million to create an insurance pool for nuclear damage. Creation of the system was mandatory under the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act (CLND).
According to Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Department of Atomic Energy, creation of the pool would help revive held-up projects such as Gorakhpur Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna (GHAVP).
The nuclear insurance pool would help suppliers function in keeping with clauses in the CLND Act that give operators the right to initiate legal proceedings against suppliers in case of accidents.
The provisions were hindering the growth of nuclear industry. Press Trust of India, quoting DAE secretary RK Sinha, says the insurance pool would be a solution to suppliers’ concerns about liability from nuclear risks.
General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC) and 11 other non-life insurers including public sector players such as New India, Oriental Insurance, National Insurance and United India Insurance, and private insurance companies have set up the pool.
Y Ramulu, General Manager of GIC, the fund operator, has told PTI that British Nuclear Insurance Pool invested about $78 million and an unnamed domestic insurance company pitched in with $15.6 million to meet a “shortfall of Rs 600 crore (about $93.6 million)”.
The creation of the fund will facilitate the issuance of nuclear operators liability insurance policies and a nuclear suppliers’ special contingency (against right to recourse) insurance policies.
Ajith Kumar S