Rs 1,500 crore insurance pool to indemnify Nuclear Reactor suppliers

NEW DELHI: India has launched a Rs 1,500 crore insurance pool to indemnify international and domestic nuclear reactor suppliers against liability in case of an accident. The measure comes a little over a month after the nuclear liability law became functional.

The pool was launched at a daylong workshop of Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool organised by the Ministry of External Affairs. Terming the meet a very successful, MEA sources said both global and domestic reactor suppliers were happy with the detailed paper that the ministry launched in February on the functioning of the liability law. The prospective suppliers are also understood to have expressed satisfaction with subsequent action by the government to expedite the process of setting up of reactors.

The government has made it clear that the liability law will not be amended, but has suggested the Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool as a mechanism to transfer risk of companies.



Five public sector firms, led by General Insurance Corporation of India, will provide Rs 750 crore for the project, while the Centre will contribute a matching sum. Seven more insurance firms, including private ones have joined the pool, sources said.

The workshop was addressed by GIC CMD, besides senior MEA officials, Department of Atomic Energy officers, and representatives of US nuclear insurer and French nuclear pool. A senior official of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and members of prospective domestic suppliers also made presentations.

The aim of the workshop was to bring foreign and domestic equipment suppliers to address concerns over the issue of legal responsibility and explain the way an insurance pool works, including in countries like the US and France. Sources informed that discussions were held on how premium for such insurance would work.

Suppliers have raised objections to India’s Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act that says nuclear equipment suppliers are liable for damages from an accident, as firms say this is a deviation from international norms that put the onus on the operator. The liability law had proved to be a stumbling block to the India-US nuclear act. Even Russians were not satisfied with the law.