[***The statement reproduced below is highly welcome insofar as it highlights the way the Modi/BJP government is subverting the very intent and purpose of the Sec. 17 (b) of 'The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010'*** (see: <http://lawmin.nic.in/ld/regionallanguages/THE%20CIVIL%20LIABILITY%20OF%20NUCLEAR%20DAMAGE%20ACT,2010.%20(38%20OF2010).pdf>). However, ***the assertion that "(t)he 2010 Indian liability Act ... takes away the rights of victims to sue the supplier" is not in conformity with actual facts***. ***The subject Act, in fact, does not take away any pre-existing rights.*** The Sec. 46 of the Act rather explicitly provides that "(t)he provisions of this Act shall be in addition to, and not in derogation of, any other law for the time being in force". Of course, the Act (purportedly) provides a mechanism for early payment of compensations to the victims of an accident, or "incident", via a quasi-judicial body specifically created by the Act and thereby obviating the need for any lengthy and expensive litigation. The compensation is to be paid upfront by the "operator". The operator may in turn, by virtue of the Sec. 17, claim it back from the "supplier" provided the responsibility for the "incident" can be pinned on the "supplier". That ostensibly cuts down the scope for any inordinate delay in payment of compensations to the victims because of (possible, rather likely, lengthy) wranglings between the "operator" and the "supplier" as regards the cause of the "incident". In fact, Sec. 5 (iii) also provides: "Provided that any compensation liable to be paid by an operator for a nuclear damage shall not have the effect of reducing the amount of his liability in respect of any other claim for damage under any other law for the time being in force." This, obviously, further reinforced the provisions of the Sec. 46. ***To repeat, the subject Act does not take away any pre-existing rights of anyone as exemplified by the Sec. 46.***
***The provision for "right of recourse" as provided under the Sec. 17 is in fact unique in the global context. Nowhere else in the world it obtains.*** It provides the "operator" an opportunity to recover the compensations paid upfront from the "supplier" by establishing the latter's culpability. This is expected to make the supplier far more quality conscious than otherwise. Given the potentially catastrophic nature of a nuclear power plant, this is a highly welcome provision. By committing to provide insurance over to the "supplier" by pooling the resources of the Indian PSU insurance companies and that of the GoI and allowing the supplier the cost of insurance to add to its (negotiated) price tag, the insurance is effectively provided free. Thereby it simply kills the promise of ensuring higher quality and safety standard latent in the Sec. 17 of the said Act. ***That's utterly disturbing. Even more than who pays after a disaster actually takes place.*** An additional point that deserves mention here is that the only nuclear reactor operating in Koodankulam, supplied by Rosatom of Russia, is performing pretty bad (see: <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/india-unity/conversations/messages/55183>). And the only other enlisted foreign "supplier", Areva of France, has its own problems. ***These are the three riders we've got to keep in mind in the given context.***] Citizens' Statement against Capitulation to the US on Nuclear Liability Press Release | Contact: Kumar Sundaram +91-9810556134 We are deeply disturbed by media reports that the Indian government has capitulated to aggressive U.S. demands and agreed to a deal that indemnifies American nuclear vendors from the consequences of accidents caused by design defects in their reactors. Preliminary reports suggest that the government has agreed to create an insurance pool, backed by public sector companies, so that any potential American liability can be redirected back to Indian taxpayers. This creates a "moral hazard", where the Indian people could end up being responsible for mistakes made by a multinational corporation. The 2010 Indian liability Act is already a weak law heavily biased towards the nuclear industry. It caps the total liability for an accident at a paltry Rs 1,500 crores and takes away the rights of victims to sue the supplier. The much-discussed supplier liability is very limited: the government alone, as the operator, has a right of recourse against the vendor. So, we fail to understand the Modi government's motivation for weakening this law even further. The U.S. has nothing attractive to offer in terms of nuclear commerce. The Indian government has agreed to purchase the AP1000 reactors from Westinghouse, and the Economic Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (ESBWR) from General Electric. Both these designs are untested. The ESBWR technology is so immature that the design received certification from the U.S. nuclear regulatory commission--the first step before a reactor can be constructed--only last September. Recent reports suggest that construction of AP1000 units has run into trouble in China. Independent estimates suggest that the cost of electricity from these reactors may exceed Rs. 15 per unit. This is much higher than the tariff from competing sources of electricity. Therefore, the reality behind the grandiose proclamations made by the Indian government is rather sobering. India has agreed to pay billions of dollars for immature American technology, and then ensured that American companies will not be held to account for any design defects. We hope that progressive forces and concerned citizens throughout the country will unite to oppose this disturbing development. Signatures: Praful Bidwai, Achin Vanaik Lalita Ramdas Anil Chaudhary Suvrat Raju Abey George Abhishek Shrivastava Meher Engineer Ashish Kothari EAS Sarma N D Jayaprakash Sheba Chhachhi Aruna Roy Harsh Kapoor Satya Sivaraman Vidya Dinkar Pamela Philipose Zoya Hasan Anand Patwardhan Githa Hariharan Priyamvada Gopal Mohan Rao Sumit Sarkar Tanika Sarkar Anitha Sharma S P Shukla Rohan D'Souza S P Udayakumar Jammu Anand Nitasha Kaul Dwijen Rangekar -- Peace Is Doable -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Green Youth Movement" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send an email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/greenyouth. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
