Nuclear Power: Insurance Paul Flynn To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change which insurance companies insure nuclear installations owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority; in what country or countries they are based; and what criteria were applied in their selection. Mr. Mike O'Brien The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority arranges insurance for its nuclear installations with the following insurers: ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Type of insurance |Insurer |Domicile| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |All Risks including Machinery Breakdown and Business Interruption|Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Construction All Risks |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nuclear Site Liability |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Nuclear Marine Transit Liability |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Liability Package |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Primary Public/Products Liability |CNA Insurance Company (Europe) Ltd. |UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Excess General Public/Products Liability |QBE Insurance Group Ltd. |UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |AIG UK Ltd. |UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Radiation Liability |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Employers’ Liability |AIG UK Ltd |UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Motor Accidental Damage, Fire and Theft |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |UK Motor Third Party Liability |Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc|UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Group Sickness |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Group Life |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Personal Accident and Travel |Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc|UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Marine Package |Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. |Guernsey| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Third Party Airside Liability |Lloyd’s underwriters |UK | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rutherford Indemnity Ltd. is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. The key criteria that the NDA uses in assessing potential insurers is value for money. Paul Flynn To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change with reference to his statement of 19 November 2008, Official Report, column 126WH, on nuclear industry finance, what additional assessment the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority made of the availability of private sector insurance for the public body to manage Sellafield. Mr. Mike O'Brien The Sellafield site is managed by Sellafield Ltd., a company not a public body. The low level waste repository facility near Drigg is similarly managed by a private company. It was necessary to provide the contractor for this facility with a nuclear indemnity but before doing so I am told that the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) approached the private nuclear insurance market in 2007 in connection with insurance for nuclear liability claims to courts outside the UK and not party to the Paris and Brussels Convention. It became clear from these discussions that commercial insurers were not prepared to quote on these potential liability claims. This established an insurance industry position in principle, in light of which the NDA and its professional advisors concluded that the position that insurers would take on the specific issue at Sellafield was clear and therefore no additional conversations were required.