PR:Nuclear Liability - Mission Impossible for State Administration

=> CZECH version of this press release

Press release dated August 21, 2017 http://calla.cz/index.php?path=hl_stranka/tiskovky/2017&php=tz170821.php

Nuclear Liability - Mission Impossible for State Administration
'''The governmental task stipulated in the National Action Plan for the Development of Nuclear Energy in the Czech Republic - to accede to the Supplementary Protocol to the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage from January 1, 2017 - remains unfulfilled. This also follows from the Annual Report on the Activities of the Permanent Nuclear Energy Committee, which the Government has taken note of. The Czech Republic has signed this updated international treaty but has not yet ratified it.'''

CEZ has limited liability for nuclear damages in Dukovany or Temelin NPPs only up to CZK 8 billion, and has to be insured to only CZK 2 billion. This Supplementary Protocol calls for a minimum liability amount of 300 million SDRs (Special Drawing Rights). Based on the currency exchange rates calculator, the figures should be higher by several billion crowns than is set out in the Czech law. For example, on August 21, 2017 (Czech National Bank currency exchange rate is 1 SDR = CZK 31,264), therefore the minimum liability should be CZK 9.4 billion.

'''The mere increase in the liability limit, as much as it is a mission impossible for the Ministry of Industry and Trade, does not address the essence of the problem - nuclear power plant operators should, according to Calla, be fully liable for nuclear damages that may be the same as those incurred by owners of other industrial plants. As a result of this indirect support today, nuclear power plants operators receive a competitive advantage in the electricity market.'''

The Fukushima crash has shown how inadequate CZK 8 billion are against the nuclear damage that can actually occur. According to the Japanese Center for Economic Research, Japan will pay CZK 10 trillion for underestimation of the safety. The Belarusian government estimated Chernobyl nuclear damage to CZK 4.6 trillion. And according to the French Institute for Nuclear Safety (IRSN), a severe accident at the nuclear power plant could be very expensive - up to CZK 10.9 trillion.

Edvard Sequens, energy consultant of Calla – Association for Preservation of the Environment, said: "It is strange how the Czech state administration is preventing us from preparing for the ratification of the agreement that we have signed and which will bring greater protection to our citizens in particular. So, while CEZ is insuring its own nuclear assets worth up to tens of billions of dollars, residents and businesses in the neighborhood would receive only a fraction of that amount." 

 More information can be provided by: 
 * Ing. Edvard Sequens, Calla, email: [mailto:edvardDOTsequensATcallaDOTcz edvard DOT sequens AT calla DOT cz], tel.: +420 602 282 399

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