NEI requests DOE minimize US supplier burden for liability risk pool

The Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) recently requested that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) provide U.S. nuclear energy suppliers with more certainty regarding their liabilities in a nuclear incident to allow them to better develop a contingency plan. The department is collecting data in developing a liability risk pool for an international treaty on compensating those affected by a nuclear incident.

The Convention of Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC) was adopted in 1997 and entered into force last year. The CSC establishes a two-tiered approach for compensating victims in the event of a nuclear incident. The first tier is paid by the country in which the incident takes place and is set at a minimum of 300 million “special drawing rights,” a unique form of international money developed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) based on a weighted average of convertible currencies.

If the first tier is insufficient, the second tier is funded by the CSC signatories.

NEI calculated that the United States would contribute approximately $64.5 million per covered incident if the current parties to the CSC are Argentina, India, Japan, Montenegro, Morocco, Romania, United Arab Emirates and the United States.

NEI said that since the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 mandates that U.S. nuclear suppliers reimburse the federal government for any costs it incurs in contributing to the second tier of liability, the CSC would create an undue burden on U.S.-based nuclear suppliers.

The institute also requested that the DOE ensure that the final rule is not overly burdensome from an administrative, record keeping or implementation standpoint.