Business Standard: New
Delhi: Wednesday, April 09, 2014.
The General
Insurance Corporation has not provided insurance to any nuclear reactor in the
country under the Civil Liability Nuclear Damage Act, an RTI response from the
public sector insurer has said.
Greenpeace,
an NGO working on environment related issues, had filed an RTI with the GIC
seeking details about the insurance provided to nuclear reactors under the act.
The Civil
Liability for Nuclear Damage Act enables operator of nuclear power plants in
India to seek partial compensation from suppliers in case of accidents.
Under the
act, nuclear reactors have to be insured with a cover of Rs 1500 crore, in case
of any nuclear accident.
The NGO had
also asked whether any insurance was provided to Kudankulam unit 3 and 4 as
these units are ideally the first units which should fall under the liability
law, which came into force two years ago.
Although unit
1 of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) was commissioned in October last
year, the agreement on units 1 and 2 was signed much before.
"No
insurance is offered by GIC to any reactor," GIC said in a response.
"No insurance is offered by GIC for unit 3 and 4 of Kudankulam."
The insurance
company also said that no meeting has taken place to discuss insurance proposal
for KKNPP's units 3 and 4.
"No such
meeting was held to discuss insurance proposal for reactor 3 and 4 at the
KKNPP. (There has been) no official communication between Nuclear Power
Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) and GIC pertaining to the issue has taken
place," the RTI said.
Sources in
the Department of Atomic Energy, however, said it has been having a dialogue
with GIC over the issue and seeks to find an amicable solution.
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