Opposition ‘Nu’ Cleared : Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill

On 6^th July 2010 in the wake of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy verdict many a articles were written across newspapers on how the compensation was inadequate and how it was calculated at 5,000 deaths and 20,000 injured as against 25,000 deaths and maiming another 5,00,000 in the study commissioned by ICMR in 1994 (10 years after the accident).

The same day I had written in this blog an article Bhopal Tragedy & Civil Liability.

I quote few lines from the article. “For the UPA Government trying to push the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill on capping civil nuclear liability in order to pave the way for the American transnational companies to export their nuclear reactors to India without having to bear the full liability on account of an accident, is a non issue. The Bill, which was introduced twice and hastily  withdrawn, states that the total liability for a nuclear incident shall not exceed 300 million Special Drawing Rights (Approximately Rs 2100 crore at current exchange rates). Within this amount, the liability of the supplier shall be Rs 500 crore. The liability of Rs. 500 crore is the same liability UCIL negotiated in 1989. The price for the worst Industrial disaster in the World. The price for 25,000 dead Indians. 

Now here is the icing, if the liability in case of a Nuclear accident exceeds Rs 500 crore, the Union Government of India shall be liable for the amount exceeding Rs 500 crore. If damage is caused in a nuclear installation owned by the central government, the government will be solely liable.

We have seen how the political leadership, the Indian Judiciary and Bureaucracy has dealt with the worst industrial disaster in the World, which killed and maimed thousands of people. In the intervening 25 years, the Congress Party ruled Madhya Pradesh for 15 years and the BJP 10 years, so no one is above board. As tragic as the tragedy itself, these tyrants of the modern day India, through political manipulation have ensured that on an average each victims of Bhopal gas tragedy got, just Rs. 12,412 as compensation. Let us not play ball to the powers-to-be, to manipulate us any more at the insistence of the American Corporations and the US Government.” Un quote.

Today the Government announced that the Standing Committee report on the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill is likely to be tabled in Parliament tomorrow. With the intension to pass the Bill before US President Barack Obama’s visit in November 2010, the Government has got the BJP support on the Bill. The passage of the Bill will open up India’s $150 billion nuclear power sector.

Chairman for the Standing Committee on the Bill, Subbirami Reddy said that all the contentious issues have been addressed in the Bill. Compensation cap will be increased from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 crore and the zero liability clause has been amended, which was a key demand by the BJP and Left Front. The Bill will now sure be passed by the Parliament even though the CPI-M has given a dissent note demanding that the compensation cap be increased to Rs 10,000 crore.

The proposed compensation cap of Rs. 1500 crore in current exchange rate would mean US$32 millions. A look at Wikipedia on Nuclear accidents gives a list of 14 nuclear power plant accidents with more than US$100 million in property damage, upto 2007. Reporducing the same for you:

Date	Location	Description	Cost (in millions 2006 $)
February 22, 1977	Jaslovske Bohunice, Czechoslovakia	Severe corrosion of reactor and release of radioactivity into the plant area, necessitating total decommission	US$1,700
March 28, 1979	Middletown, Pennsylvania, US	Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown, see Three Mile Island accident and Three Mile Island accident health effects	US$2,400
September 15, 1984	Athens, Alabama, US	Safety violations, operator error, and design problems force six year outage at Browns Ferry Unit 2	US$110
March 9, 1985	Athens, Alabama, US	Instrumentation systems malfunction during startup, which led to suspension of operations at all three Browns Ferry Units	US$1,830
April 11, 1986	Plymouth, Massachusetts, US	Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison’s Pilgrim Nuclear Power Plant	US$1,001
April 26, 1986	Kiev, Ukraine	Steam explosion and meltdown with 4,056 deaths (see Chernobyl disaster) necessitating the evacuation of 300,000 people from Kiev and dispersing radioactive material across Europe (see Chernobyl disaster effects)	US$6,700
November 24, 1989	Greifswald, East Germany	Electrical error causes fire in the main trough that destroys control lines and five main coolant pumps	UD$443
May 4, 1986	Hamm-Uentrop, Germany	Experimental reactor releases excessive radiation to four square kilometers surrounding the facility	US$267
March 31, 1987	Delta, Pennsylvania, US	Peach Bottom units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems	US$400
December 19, 1987	Lycoming, New York, US	Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Nine Mile Point Unit 1	US$150
March 17, 1989	Lusby, Maryland, US	Inspections at Calvert Cliff Units 1 and 2 reveal cracks at pressurized heater sleeves, forcing extended shutdowns	US$120
February 20, 1996	Waterford, Connecticut, US	Leaking valve forces shutdown Millstone Nuclear Power Plant Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found	US$254
September 2, 1996	Crystal River, Florida, US	Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs at Crystal River Unit 3	US$384
February 16, 2002	Oak Harbor, Ohio, US	Severe corrosion of control rod forces 24-month outage of Davis-Besse reactor	US$143

In 2008 President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed and sealed a civil nuclear agreement which ended New Delhi’s isolation in global atomic commerce and opened up its state-controlled nuclear power market to American transnational companies. And when this agreement got the endorsement of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (46 member group of countries) other countries could also have nuclear trade with New Delhi. But it is common knowledge that nuclear trade is primarily driven by seven member countries – US, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Russia.

The Indo-US Nuclear deal could not be implemented until India put in place a compensation regime that limited the liability of private companies, especially those from the United States, in the event of an industrial accident. So, India framed the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 which stipulates the compensation burden on the state-run reactor operator, the liability of the Union Government and the responsibility of private suppliers and contractors.

The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill is important for the private American companies whose liabilities are not underwritten by the US governments as is done by the governments of Russia and France. Compensation claims from one nuclear accident could be enough to bankrupt a private company. These companies are reluctant to enter the Indian market despite its size ($150 billion), until there is some clarity on compensation in case of an accident. The US Administration and Obama has been pushing this with the Indian Government.

 The Prime Minister sure is in a hurry to remove all the hurdles for Nuclear trade with the US before the proposed visit by President Obama to India in November, but little thought is put in by the Indian Government and Bureaucracy inspite of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy.  With the passage of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill in both the houses of Parliament, we will create more Bhopal’s in our backyard and still be able to sell India cheap. And dead Indian’s cheaper.

Suggested Reading : http://wp.me/pV9Cw-5z

Statistics Copyright : Nuclear Accidents – Wikipedia

2010

08/17

POSTED BY

Vyshali

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