In the highly unlikely event of a nuclear related incident, government has responsibility for third party liabilities. On 1st January 2022, the 2004 Protocols came into force which amend the rules embedded in the 1960 Paris Convention and the 1963 Brussels Supplementary Convention relating to nuclear third-party liability international conventions. As a result, an increased level of compensation is available to victims.
The 2004 Protocols increase the operator liability in the event of a nuclear incident from the current €140m to a maximum of €1.2bn over a period of 5 years and extend the period for which claims can be made from 10 to 30 years.
At present there is insufficient commercial capacity to insure this risk completely. Therefore, the government has agreed initially to provide an indemnity, for an economic charge, to operators to cover increased personal injury liabilities for the 10 to 30 year period.
The CLCC, using loss estimates provided by GAD, advised BEIS and HM Treasury on practical ways of dealing with these contingent liabilities, including fair allocation of risk and reward between private sector insurers and the government.