TABLE 2 Maximum amounts of compensation available with respect to large nuclear installations (1) The relevant Swiss Act has been approved by Parliament but will not come into force probably sometime in 1984. (2) This sum does not supplement the amount of financial security, but rather applies to the extent that financial security may not be available. Ratio of contributions TABLE 3 Calculation of contributions by Contracting Parties of the Brussels Supplementary Convention (under Article 12 thereof) to constitute the third tier of compensation (Estimate). *Source: OECD Observer No. 121/March, 1983. FOOTNOTES 1. Responsibility for the ideas expressed and facts given in this paper rests solely with its author. 2. It should also be noted that on 21st May 1963 in Vienna, a Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage ("The Vienna Convention") was adopted in order to establish on a worldwide basis a system similar to that of the Paris Convention. However, only one European country, namely Yugoslavia, is a Party to that Convention. Following adoption of the Vienna Convention, slight amendments were made, by way of Protocols dated 1964, to the Paris Convention and the Brussels Supplementary Convention to harmonize their provisions with that of Vienna. 3. A table of Signatories and Contracting Parties to the Paris and Brussels Supplementary Conventions is attached to this paper (Table 1) 4. A unit of account is defined by the Agreement as being 0.88867088 grammes of fine gold. When the Paris Convention and the Brussels Supplementary Convention were adopted, this unit was equivalent to one United States Dollar. 5. On the other hand, the operator cannot be held liable outside the Convention with respect to damage caused by a nuclear incident. 6. The Convention does leave it open to Contracting Parties to provide that the carrier may be liable in substitution for a nuclear operation of an installation in its territory but this option has not in fact been used. 7. The text of this Act was reproduced in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin No. 6. 8. The text of this Act is reproduced in English in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin No. 2. 9. There have been a few cases e.g. the French sea-dumping operation of some 20 years ago, where private insurers have been unwilling to provide cover. In these instances cover has been provided by way of the Central Reinsurance Fund (Caisse Centrale de Reassurance), a reinsurance company in which the State has a majority interest. 10. And implements certain reservations made by the Federal Republic of Germany with respect to the Paris Convention. Thus, in particular, the nuclear operator is liable even if the damage was caused by a nuclear incident directly due to an act of armed conflict, hostilities, civil war or insurrection (all reasons for excluding the operator's liability under the Paris Convention) as well as a natural disaster of an exceptional character. See the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin, Nos. 15 and 18, for an English version of the Act. 11. Standard coverage for waste disposal facilities is DM 10 million, or DM 100 million if high-level waste is handled. 12. For further details, and in some cases translations into English of these texts, see the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin Nos. 9, 11. 12 and 23. 13. The total national third party liability insurance capacity in Spain is currently Pesetas 1.6 billion (about $11.2 million) with respect to Almaraz, and Pesetas 900 million (about $6.3 million) for all other locations. 14. For a text, in English, of the Act, see the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin, No. 2. 15. The Federal Office of Energy has been entrusted with preparing a Government Ordinance to detail certain provisions of the new Act which will enter into force upon adoption of the Ordinance by the Federal council, doubtless sometime in 1984. Meanwhile, nuclear third party liability questions continue to be regulated by the relevant provisions of the 1959 Federal Act on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy and Protection against Radiation, as amended, and regulations made under the Act. 16. Under current legislation, the operator's liability is limited to SwFrs 300 million which is in fact the limit of the third party liability insurance capacity in Switzerland at the moment. 17. In order to be able to fulfil its obligations with respect to these two types of intervention, the State will require operators and carriers to make suitable payments (the amount of which is to be fixed by the Federal Council) into a fund created for this purpose. 18. The text of this Act has been reproduced in the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency's Nuclear Law Bulletin, No. 1. 19. The current third party liability insurance capacity in the United Kingdom is £27 million (about $41.3 million). A CRITICAL REVIEW OF THE PROBABILITY OF CAUSATION METHOD By Louis A. Cox, Jr. and Joseph R. Fiksel of Arthur D. Little, Inc. March 1984 Copyright© 1984 by American Nuclear Insurers Report to American Nuclear Insurers and Mutual Atomic Energy Liability Underwriters. |