3 Feb (NucNet): The Canadian government has passed a law establishing a compensation and civil liability regime for nuclear accidents which includes compensation of up to one billion Canadian dollars (CAD) (900 million US dollars, 670 million euros), the government said in a statement.
One of the measures introduced by the Energy Safety and Security Act is to increase the amount of compensation available to address civil nuclear damages from CAD 75 million to CAD 1 billion. This measure acts as implementation of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, which Canada signed in December 2013.
The Convention specifies how to address nuclear civil liability and compensation in the event of trans-boundary and transportation incidents resulting in civil nuclear damage among Convention member countries.
The government said the Convention is important for Canada as it would establish nuclear civil liability treaty relations with the US, which is already a party to the Convention.
The new legislation also maintains absolute liability of operators of nuclear facilities, meaning that anyone affected by an accident does not need to prove fault when submitting a claim.
A further provision extends the limitation period for submitting compensation claims for bodily injuries from 10 to 30 years in order to take into account latent illnesses. The 10-year period is maintained for all other types of damage claims.
The new legislation, adopted on 30 January 2014, replaces the 1976 Nuclear Liability Act.
