These Conventions also provide that the operator has an obligation to take out insurance or lodge a financial guarantee for the liability amounts established in order to guarantee the availability of funds.
In France, the civil liability obligations imposed on nuclear facility operators were transposed into the French Environmental Code. More specifically, since 2016, Articles L. 597-28 and L. 597-32 of the French Environmental Code provide that the limits on the civil liability of nuclear operators are set at €700 million for nuclear facilities (€70 million for low-risk facilities) and €80 million for risks during transport.
EDF has a “Nuclear Civil Liability Insurance Programme (RCN)” insurance cover obtained following a call for tenders, which enables the Group to meet its obligations while controlling their financial impact. The insurance is shared between the nuclear insurance market (AXA, reinsured by the French nuclear pool Assuratome), the Group’s captive insurance companies, and the nuclear mutual insurance company ELINI.
Framatome joined the Group’s insurance system on 18 February 2020. Its insurance programme is equally divided between the nuclear insurance market (AXA, reinsured by Assuratome), the Group’s captives and the ELINI nuclear mutual insurance company.
In the United Kingdom, where EDF Energy operates nuclear power plants, the nuclear operator’s civil liability rules are similar to French rules. The UK Parliament approved on 4 May 2016 the “Nuclear Installations Order” (order transposing the above-mentioned amending Protocols of February 2004), which makes substantially the same changes as the French “TSN” Act in 2006 but which, for the most part, will enter into force only in conjunction with the Protocols.
This Order will raise the British operators’ obligations from the current limit of £140 million to the equivalent of €700 million, and they will be progressively increased over a five-year period to reach a cap of €1.2 billion.
EDF Energy is currently insured by ELINI and Wagram Insurance Company DAC. The reinsurance company Océane Re shares in this risk under the reinsurance contract it issues for the benefit of Wagram Insurance Company DAC.
In view of the expiry dates of the current insurance policies and the planned entry into force in 2022 of the insurance obligations arising from the revised Paris Convention, tenders and negotiations are underway to set up the necessary insurance.
Under the Paris Convention, the operator that is the “shipper” is civilly liable for the transport of nuclear substances (unless stipulated otherwise). Since 18 February 2016, the liability ceiling has been set at €80 million with an unchanged scope of damage, and will subsequently be extended to a broader scope of damage admissible for compensation when the revised Paris Convention comes into force. This liability is as of now covered by the aforementioned nuclear operator civil liability policy.
The cover obtained through EDF’s membership in the OIL mutual insurance company provides protection against material damage in cold areas, excluding the consequences of a nuclear accident, of 60% of $400 million in excess of a deductible of $15 million, both in France and in the United Kingdom.
Since 1 October 2021, the insurance system covering nuclear facilities is as follows :
Framatome is insured by the mutual insurance association EMANI for damage and consequential operating loss affecting the facilities involved in the manufacture of fuel up to a limit of €650 million, with a deductible not exceeding €5 million for damage and 90 days for operating loss. Furthermore, EDF Inc. is a member of NEIL (Nuclear Electric Insurance Limited) – a mutual nuclear insurance company in the United States.
The total amount of Group insurance premiums for all types of cover was €283 million in 2021.
