§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether in the event of a nuclear accident the taxpayer is required to endorse liability beyond £25 million, even in the event of negligence, including culpable negligence, on the part of the operators; how the figure of £25 million was originally arrived at and what it is now in real terms; whether the figure has been re-examined in the light of the Chernobyl disaster; and whether the liability limitation applies to the whole process of decommissioning nuclear power stations.
§ Viscount UllswaterThe provisions of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended) place a strict liability upon the operator of a nuclear installation for injury to any person or damage to any property of any person resulting from a nuclear incident. This means that the operator is liable where he is not negligent as well as where he is negligent. The liability of the operator is limited to £20 million and compensation claims exceeding this amount would be met from public funds up to a total of 300 million special drawing rights of the International Monetary Fund (approximately £240 million). Claims in excess of this amount would be satisfied to such extent and out of funds provided by such means as Parliament may determine. The provisions of the 1965 Act including the limit on the liability of the operator apply during the various stages of decommissioning nuclear power stations on licensed sites.
The amount of £20 million was established in 1983 as an appropriate uprating of a figure of £5 million 850WA established in 1959. On the basis of the Retail Prices Index £20 million today would represent approximately £14 million at 1983 prices.
The provisions of the Nuclear Installations Act 1965 (as amended) fulfil the obligations of the United Kingdom under the 1960 Paris Convention on third party liability in the field of nuclear energy and its supplementary Brussels Convention of 1963. The extent of the limit of liability on the operators of nuclear stations under the conventions is presently the subject of international re-examination in the light of the Chernobyl disaster.