The Nuclear Insurance Association of Canada (NIAC) has announced that international nuclear pools will now have access to Canada’s own domestic pool through a cooperative agreement arranged by the Nuclear Risk Insurers (NRI).
The arrangement will allow NIAC to capitalize on its “Made in Canada expertise” while granting access to other insurance pools overseas “to increase capacity in order to meet Bill C-22’s $650 million and rising liability limit for nuclear operators.”
These pools are vital because they allow insurers to share risks so one carrier is not solely responsible for exorbitant financial losses that can accompany perils, such as the damages caused to Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in 2011.
“Every insurer has the benefit of nuclear exclusions in all their policies, so that their solvency is protected should a catastrophic nuclear incident occur,” said Colleen DeMerchant, general manager at NIAC. “However, someone must provide operators with appropriate nuclear liability coverage so that all Canadians can benefit from carbon free, reliable electricity.”
The nuclear insurance pool should prove advantageous to the industry in a wide manner of other respects as well.
“The benefit NIAC brings to insurers who may be considering joining the pool is the collective intelligence of the nuclear world, through 1) our surveys of the stations over the years 2) our comprehensive knowledge of nuclear liability regimes at home and abroad and 3) our claims management capabilities, to mention only a few,” said DeMerchant.
The biggest benefit, however, is that domestic insurers can now provide scalable coverage to the degree and scope of their choosing.
“In Canada, licensed Canadian insurers have the opportunity to participate in the NIAC pool to the extent they want, to provide the nuclear coverage needed,” said DeMerchant. “Any shortfall can be taken up by the nuclear pooling system, which NIAC accesses through NRI, our co-insuring partner.”
