Universal Registration Document 2022

Specific insurance for nuclear facility operations

Several international conventions govern the civil liability of nuclear facility operators, in particular the Paris Convention of 29 July 1960 on Third-Party Liability in the Field of Nuclear Energy and the Brussels Convention of 31 January 1963, which supplements the Paris Convention (hereinafter the “Conventions”). The Paris Convention introduced a special liability regime for nuclear damage, which is strict (even in the absence of fault), limited as to amount ⁽¹⁾ and duration, and is exclusively focused on the nuclear facility operator. These Conventions apply to the signatory countries that have ratified them, including France and the United Kingdom.

Protocols to amend the Paris and Brussels Conventions were signed on 12 February 2004 and entered into force on 1 January 2022. They require higher amounts of compensation than the original conventions, in order to cover a greater number of victims and types of damage that are eligible for indemnification. The State, in which is located the nuclear facility of the operator that is liable for causing the damage, is liable for amounts above the €700 million for which the operator is liable, up to €1,200 million (provided that such State is a Contracting Party to the Brussels Convention). Above this amount, the Member States that are Contracting Parties to the Brussels Convention are liable up to a maximum amount of €1,500 million. In addition, for personal injury only, the time limit for instituting actions for compensation has been raised from 10 years to 30 years from the date of the incident. The definition of “nuclear damage” is evolving and includes, in addition to damage to persons and property, consequential damage, economic losses, the cost of protective measures, the cost of measures to rehabilitate damaged environments, and certain other losses resulting from damage to the environment.

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 have been transposed into the French Environmental Code. Thus, the liability limits for civil liability of nuclear facility operators are set at €700 million for nuclear damage caused by each nuclear accident (€70 million for low-risk facilities) and €80 million in the event of transport of nuclear substances for a given nuclear accident ^(2).

EDF has implemented the “Nuclear Civil Liability Insurance Programme (RCN)” insurance cover obtained following a call for tenders, which enables the Group to meet its obligations arising from the revised Paris Convention, while controlling their financial impact. This 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 entered the Group insurance scheme on 18 February 2020.

In the United Kingdom, EDF Energy has implemented a programme satisfying the requirements of the updated Paris Convention, subscribed with the British NRI pool, the Group’s captive insurance companies and the ELINI nuclear mutual insurer. Note that the British operators’ obligations will be gradually raised over a five-year period, from €700 million to €1,200 million.

Cover for damage to nuclear facilities

The cover obtained through EDF’s membership of the Everen mutual insurance company provides protection against material damage in cold regions, excluding the consequences of a nuclear accident, amounting to 60% of $450 million in excess of a deductible of USD 15 million, both in France and the United Kingdom.

Since 1 October 2021, the insurance system covering nuclear facilities is as follows:

• in France, the protection provided by Everen is supplemented, for the consequences of a nuclear accident, including the costs of site decontamination, by insurance cover of up to €80 million in excess of a deductible of up to €20 million using the EMANI nuclear mutual insurance company, Axa and Allianz (all of which are reinsured by Assuratome), and Wagram Insurance Company DAC (the latter reinsured by Océane Re);
• in the United Kingdom, Everen’s protection is supplemented, for the consequences of a nuclear accident, including the costs of site decontamination, by an insurance programme with capacity defined based on the technology and status of the plants of up to £1 billion provided by the nuclear mutual insurance association EMANI, the British nuclear pool NRI and Northcourt, which consists of British specialist insurers.

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 nuclear mutual insurance company in the United States.

Premiums

The total amount of Group insurance premiums for all types of cover was €311 million in 2022.