Greenpeace Panel on India's Nuclear Liability Act

On 16 July, 2012, Greenpeace India held a panel discussion at the National Law School of India University in Bangalore to explore issues surrounding the nature of supplier liability under the recent Nuclear Liability Act 2010, as well as the disjuncture between the purpose of the Act and its proposed rules of implementation. The rules limit the right of recourse of the operator (ie the right of the nuclear operator to sue the supplier in case the incident of a disaster was due to the fault of the supplier such as faulty material with defects). 

Natural Justice’s Arpitha Kodiveri highlighted the reasons and consequences of such a disjuncture between the rules and the Act and engaged with the students on possible ways to bring this issue to light. The rules are being discussed in the monsoon session of Parliament. 

The panel discussion concluded with few key observations: 

• The proposed rules should be amended to give effect to the purpose of the Act to allow operators to sue nuclear suppliers in case of nuclear damage caused due to their negligence; 

• Measures should be taken to create financial security measures and insurance facilities for operators so that they can bear the cost of a nuclear incident without causing suffering to the victims of such incident.