NRI Annual Review 2023 - Flipbook - Page 16
NUCLEAR THIRD-PARTY
LIABILITY CLAIMS
Overview of third-party liability claims handling worldwide
By Achim Jansen, Chairman, Claims Subcommittee (CSC) of the Pooling system and
Pool Manager at DKVG
A common point of contention
in the settlement of general thirdparty claims is the question of
liability, but this question does not
apply to nuclear liability due to the
legal channelling of liability. This
special feature of “channelling”
means that only the operator of a
nuclear facility is liable for nuclear
damage, which avoids potentially
protracted disputes in which
responsibility is argued from one
party to another. Channelling
ensures that the victims of
a nuclear incident receive
compensation in accordance
with their national laws and
international conventions.
Settling nuclear damage claims is a serious
task because there are a large number of
potential claimants, some of whom have to
be compensated at short notice.
Against this backdrop, sufficient regulatory
capacity needs to be available. In addition, it
is acknowledged that there have only been
a handful of nuclear-related claims, and so
it is important to be well prepared for the
eventuality. Nuclear pools look to update
and test existing systems regularly, including
the legal framework and the technical
infrastructure, as well as communication
channels with other parties involved in
regulation.
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One of the roles of the CSC is to ensure
that best practice is shared regularly and is
adopted, where beneficial, by the international
pools around the world. Looking at the current
regulatory approaches adopted by various
nuclear pools, the differences quickly become
clear. On the one hand, there are pools that
insure risks directly who use their own claims
settlement system. On the other, reinsurance
pools usually underwrite risks via large and
internationally active primary insurers, who
are primarily responsible for managing and
settling claims. In this case, the local nuclear
pool tends to play a coordinating role by
informing the other companies involved and
managing, if necessary, their involvement in
the claims settlement.
This overview of third-party liability claims
handling will be developed and expanded in
NRI’s next corporate report.
A recent example of best
practice being developed
within the pooling system
in South Africa
By Alida Spies, Project Manager, South
African Nuclear Pool Administrators
The South African Pool for the Insurance
of Nuclear Risks (SANP) was established to
provide insurance for the Eskom-owned
Koeberg Nuclear Power Station and the
Necsa-owned research facility at Pelindaba.
Both of these nuclear facilities require the
support of the international pooling system
because the local insurance capacity available
to underwrite these risks is insufficient. Three
classes of business are underwritten: property
damage, third-party liability and terrorism.
