Rs. 1500 Crore Nuclear Insurance Pool Launched

Insurance players have roped in a foreign player to manage the Indian Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP). GIC Re, India’s national reinsurer, has got the support of Nuclear Risk Insurers (NRI) of the UK to launch its Rs 1,500 crore INIP, a pooling arrangement to address exposure of nuclear operators and suppliers.

Key Points

• INIP, launched by Atomic Energy Commission, is being managed by GIC Re and 11 other domestic general insurers and NRI—the only foreign player to participate and provide cover to both operators and suppliers of 26 nuclear plants of Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC).
  
  
• The reinsurance support coming in from NRI has replaced the expected funding support of the government which earlier had a plan to contribute Rs 600 crore to the Pool.
  
  
• There are 21 existing nuclear plants and five more are being added.
  
  
• NPC’s mandate is to triple the nuclear energy generation by 2022 from the current level of 4,750 MW.
  
  
• With this launch, India has joined an exclusive list of countries having nuclear pools and the INIP will be 27th nuclear insurance pool in the world managing nuclear liabilities.
  
  
• The pool will address third party liability insurance under Civil Liability of Nuclear Damage Act (CLNDA) 2010 to begin with and later expand into property and other hot zone risk for which it will work in close co-ordination with nuclear power industry.
  
  
• GIC Re as the pool manager shall strive to ensure that INIP develops into one stop facility  for covering all nuclear risks.
  
  
• New India Assurance will issue the insurance policy and deal with the management of cover to the operator and suppliers on behalf of all direct insurance companies participating in the pool.
  
  
• New India Assurance will issue two kind of insurance policies—Nuclear Operators Liability (CLND Act 2010) Insurance Policy and Nuclear Suppliers’ Special Contigency (against Right to Recourse) Insurance Policy—to deal with management of cover to the operators and suppliers on behalf of all direct insurance companies participating in the pool.

The other general insurers are United Insurance, National Insurance, Oriental Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, Reliance General Insurance, Tata AIG General Insurance, IFFCO –Tokio General Insurance, Chola MS General Insurance, SBI General and Universal Sompo General Insurance.