US may require India to amend nuclear laws

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman Gregory Jaczko is expected to tell Indian representatives when they meet next month that its civil nuclear liability law would not pass muster in the US.

American investors are wary of coming to India, faced with a law that permits open-ended liability of suppliers. Further, they are fearful of the court cases that might result as a consequence of an accident.

The Indian government has promised to ‘fix’ the problem through enabling executive orders. The US is not convinced this can be done. It is now looking to find a statutory protection for suppliers of civil nuclear energy as well as operators.


While the Bill fixes liability for nuclear damage, specifies procedures for compensating victims and fixes no-fault liability on operators by giving them a right of recourse against certain persons, it also contains the right of recourse against the supplier. This is neither compliant with the CSC, nor acceptable to foreign companies.

The US has discussed the law — The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Bill 2010 — with France and Russia. These are the other two countries with whom India wants to do business in nuclear power. Both of them share the US’s concerns on the infirmities in the liability regime spelt out in the Bill. Worse, the Bill, according to informed US sources, is not in conformity with the International Atomic Energy Agency Convention on Supplementary Compensation.

Sources note that while India had repeatedly assured the US to patiently await the enabling executive orders, but it is certain that executive orders cannot contradict a legislation passed by the Indian Parliament.