How the law works
Funding and proceduresPower reactor licensees are required by the act to obtain
the maximum amount of insurance against nuclear related incidents which is available in the insurance market (as of 2011, $375 million per plant). Any monetary claims that fall within this maximum amount are paid by the insurer(s). The Price-Anderson fund, which is financed by the reactor companies themselves, is then used to make up the difference.
Each reactor company is obliged to contribute up to $111.9 million per reactor in the event of an accident with claims that exceed the $375 million insurance limit. As of 2011, the
maximum amount of the fund is approximately $12.22 billion ($111.9m X 104 reactors) if all of the reactor companies were required to pay their full obligation to the fund.
This fund is not paid into unless an accident occurs. However, fund administrators are required to have contingency plans in place to raise funds using loans to the fund, so that claimants may be paid as soon as possible. Actual payments by companies in the event of an accident are capped at $17.5 million per year until either a claim has been met, or their maximum individual liability (the $111.9 million maximum) has been reached. If a coverable incident occurs, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) is required to submit a report on the cost of it to the courts and to Congress. If claims are likely to exceed the maximum Price-Anderson fund value, then the President is required to submit proposals to Congress. These proposals must detail the costs of the accident, recommend how funds should be raised, and detail plans for full and prompt compensation to those affected. Under the Act, the administrators of the fund have the right to further charge plants if it is needed. If Congress fails to provide for compensation, claims can be made under the Tucker Act (in which the government waives its sovereign immunity) for failure by the federal government to carry out its duty to compensate claimants.
Price-Anderson also covers Department of Energy (DOE) facilities, private licensees, and their subcontractors including the USEC uranium enrichment plants, national laboratories and the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Any payments from the fund for accidents arising at DOE facilities come from the US treasury. The fund size for such installations is set by legislation (also at $11.6 billion), rather than being based upon the number of plants contributing to the fund.
Since Price-Anderson was enacted,
nuclear insurance pools have paid out about $151 million ($70 million of which was related to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident) in claims, while the Department of Energy has paid out $65 million.<more>
All boldface minehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price-Anderson_Nuclear_Industries_Indemnity_Act $375 million per reactor.
The grand list for Bridgeport, CT, a city of 145,000 in southwestern Connecticut and a bit on the poor side, is $7,000 million.
Nineteen times what the private insurance will cover.
So the private insurance will cover the private property of, hmmm, 7,632 people.
$49,135 worth of coverage per person.
And if the damage is more than that, well, then, all the other power plants kick in and cover the rest of Bridgeport, and maybe a little bit of Trumbull.
THEN good ol' corporate socialism kicks in and Uncle Sam pays off the rest of New England as it glows quietly to itself in the evenings.
Yay capitalism and efficient, cost-effective nuclear fission power.
Did you know crickets are more radiation-resistant than cockroaches? I bet you didn't know that. I bet you also don't want to find out by direct observation in your backyard, do you?
I mean, am I wrong here? Am I missing something? Or does this reek as bad as I think it does?
I'll take this moment to note that, for what we spent in Iraq, I'm pretty sure we could have had a couple of working nuclear FUSION power plants up and running. You know, the kind that combines hydrogen instead of splitting uranium?
The kind that STOPS ALL BY ITSELF if the fuel-control system is turned off or knocked out?
Maybe you've heard of it? The kind whose fuel isn't a radioactive and chemical toxin that can be used in terrorist or military attacks?
Ring any bells? The kind that doesn't produce radioactive waste with a half-life of tens of thousands of years and can also be used in terrorist attacks?
Hello, anybody home? The fuel you can distill from seawater instead of strip-mining mountains?
THAT nuclear fuel? Deuterium? It's not just in "Star Trek", yanno.
Deuterium, if accidentally released, simply floats upwards into the sky harmlessly. If accidentally released near an open flame, you get a brief fireball, then the steam floats upwards into the sky harmlessly. If you breath it in, you get a squeaky voice. And when you exhale, it floats upwards into the sky harmlessly.
Doesn't this sound a bit better than fallout shelters, hazmat teams, lead-lined suits, radioactive decontamination, and ionizing radiation?
I mean, am I nuts?
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