Nuclear insurance As any other industrial company, a nuclear installation can secure itself against the expenses caused by an eventual accident, through underwriting one or more policies. The categories of risks that so can be covered are the same as in the classical industry, on condition of taking into account the fact that the nuclear contamination aspect eventually can take important proportions. Consequently, in what follows we don't stuck about the cover of the risks Workmen's Compensation, Material Damage, Machinery Breakdown, Consequential Loss and others, cover generally settled by classical policies adapted for the circumstances. The regulations of the third party liability of the nuclear operator are however particular and are settled as well by international conventions, as by specific laws in each country. In Belgium the third party liability of an operator is defined by : a) The Paris Convention of 29th July 1960. b) The Supplementary Convention of Brussels of 1963. c) The law of 22nd July 1985 on third party liability in the field of nuclear energy, modified by the law of 11th July 2000. I. The Paris Convention (P.C.). The Paris Convention, adopted on 29th July 1960 under the care of the OECD, was the first international Convention that established the fundamental principles concerning the special regulations of third party liability and compensation in case of a nuclear accident. These principles are the following : The objective liability (without being necessary to prove any fault) and the exclusive liability (channeling) of the operator of the nuclear installation in which the accident has occurred ; this same principle is applicable to the carriage of nuclear substances. The limitation of the liability of the operator as for its amount and its period in time (the requests for compensation should be introduced within ten years as from the date of the nuclear accident). The nuclear operator should have insurance or any other financial guaranty of an amount equivalent to the one of his liability. Only one jurisdiction is competent to pronounce on the requests for compensation following a nuclear accident, in principle the one of the State in which the accident occurred. The enforcement of the judgments is compelled to each of the Contracting Parties. The principle of non-discrimination with respect to the victims of a nuclear accident, irrespective their nationality, domicile or the place of residence. The States having ratified the Paris Convention are : Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom. II. The Supplementary Convention of Brussels (S.C.B.). Besides a certain number of precisions, the "Supplementary Convention of Brussels" establishes a compensation system comprising three levels. In the case of the first level, the compensation is assured by means of insurance or any other financial guaranty of the operator, up to the maximum amount of the liability settled by national law according to the stipulations of the Paris Convention. With respect to the second, in other words the one comprised between this amount and 175 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR), it is provided by the Government of the State in which the nuclear installation, for which the operator is liable, is situated (State of the installation). The remaining amount, if there subsist damages to be compensated, comprised between 175 million and 300 million SDR, is provided jointly by all the States Parties in function of a special distribution key established on the basis of the gross national product (GNP) and the thermal power of the nuclear reactors situated in each State. Schematically the intervention limits foreseen by the S.C.B. can be represented as follows : € 430,00 million (*) Contribution from all States Parties of the S.C.B. Contribution of the State of the installation Indemnification by the operator 300 million of SDR € 250 million (*) 175 million of SDR € 297,5 million (**) (or € 74,37 million) Limit fixed by the State (*) The amounts in euro are given as a guide (1 SDR = 1,432 EUR). (**)The Belgian law of 11 July 2000 settles the third party liability limit of the operator at BEF 12 milliards en principle (€ 297,5 million). For some operators this limit is fixed at € 74,37 million. The States having ratified the Supplementary Convention of Brussels are : Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom. III. Law of 22 July 1985. The law of 22 July 1985 specifies the modes of application of the P.C. with respect to the third party liability of the Belgian nuclear operators. The level of the liability of the operator has been modified by the law of 11 July 2000 in order to bring it in principle at BEF 12 milliard (€ 297,5 million). Nevertheless, the King can, through a decree decided in the Cabinet, increase or reduce the liability amount of the operator. This explains how it comes that in Belgium some nuclear operators see their liability limited at BEF 3 milliard (€ 74,37 million). Remark : In Belgium, the nuclear operator, responsible for a nuclear installation, is recognized by Royal Decree.