Nuclear insurance pools worldwide: the role in the nuclear law

Abstract

In the second part of the 20^th century it became clear to insurers that any nuclear accident has catastrophic potential. The characteristics of the nuclear risks made the coverage unattractive to individual insurers. The insurance industry was challenged to create structural and legal mechanisms, in order to be able to deal with the new hazard. The most important mechanism is the insurance pool which has contributed to the insurance industry remaining an essential part of the development of the nuclear industry and the nuclear third party liability regime. Today, the insurance market, through the insurance pools, is involved in the parallel creation of legislation and insurance policies in the two most important types of nuclear insurance:

- Insurance of physical damage or first party liability that will provide coverage for all the operator’s assets on the nuclear facility. This damage consists of various types of actual damage and future damage or loss of income which results from the actual damage

- Nuclear third party liability policy or liability insurance covers all aspects of off-site nuclear damage suffered by people, businesses and other property not directly related to the nuclear site.

This paper aims to present the significance of the nuclear insurance pools in nuclear law and the provision of financial security in case of third party liability for the nuclear operator.

Keywords: nuclear operator, third party liability, nuclear damage, insurance pool, financial security.