The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010

(1) This Act may be called the CivilLiability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010. (2) It extends to the whole of India. (3) It also applies to nuclear damage suffered-- (a) in or over the maritime areas beyond the territorial waters of India; (b) in or over the exclusive economic zone of India as referred to in section 7 of the TerritorialWaters, Continental Shelf, Exclusive Economic Zone and Other Maritime Zones Act, 1976 (80 of1976); (c) on board or by a ship registered in India under section 22 of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1958(44 of 1958) or under any other law for the time being in force; (d) on board or by an aircraft registered in India under clause (d) of sub-section (2) of section 5 ofthe Aircraft Act, 1934 (22 of 1934) or under any other law for the time being in force; (e) on or by an artificial island, installation or structure under the jurisdiction of India. (4) It applies only to the nuclear installation owned or controlled by the Central Government either byitself or through any authority or corporation established by it or a Government company. Explanation.--For the purposes of this sub-section, "Government company" shall have the samemeaning as assigned to it in clause (bb) of sub-section (1) of section 2 of the Atomic Energy Act, 1962(33 of 1962). (5) It shall come into force on such date as the Central Government may, by notification, appoint; anddifferent dates may be appointed for different provisions of this Act, and any reference in any suchprovision to the commencement of this Act shall be construed as a reference to the coming into force ofthat provision.

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,-- (a) "Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Commission appointed under sub-section (1) ofsection 20; (b) "Claims Commissioner" means the Claims Commissioner appointed under sub-section (2) ofsection 9; (c) "Commission" means the Nuclear Damage Claims Commission established under section 19; (d) "environment" shall have the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (a) of section 2 of theEnvironment (Protection) Act, 1986 (29 of 1986); (e) "Member" means a Member of the Commission appointed under sub-section (1) of section 20; (f) "notification" means a notification published in the Official Gazette and the term "notify" shallbe construed accordingly; (g) "nuclear damage'' means-- (i) loss of life or personal injury (including immediate and long term health impact) to aperson; or (ii) loss of, or damage to, property, caused by or arising out of a nuclear incident, and includes each of the following to the extentnotified by the Central Government; (iii) any economic loss, arising from the loss or damage referred to in sub-clauses (i) or (ii)and not included in the claims made under those sub-clauses, if incurred by a person entitled toclaim such loss or damage; (iv) costs of measures of reinstatement of impaired environment caused by a nuclear incident,unless such impairment is insignificant, if such measures are actually taken or to be taken and notincluded in the claims made under sub-clause (ii); (v) loss of income derived from an economic interest in any use or enjoyment of theenvironment, incurred as a result of a significant impairment of that environment caused by anuclear incident, and not included in the claims under sub-clause (ii); (vi) the costs of preventive measures, and further loss or damage caused by such measures; (vii) any other economic loss, other than the one caused by impairment of the environmentreferred to in sub-clauses (iv) and (v), in so far as it is permitted by the general law on civilliability in force in India and not claimed under any such law, in the case of sub-clauses (i) to (v) and (vii) above, to the extent the loss or damage arises out of, or resultsfrom, ionizing radiation emitted by any source of radiation inside a nuclear installation, or emitted fromnuclear fuel or radioactive products or waste in, or of, nuclear material coming from, originating in, orsent to, a nuclear installation, whether so arising from the radioactive properties of such matter, or from acombination of radioactive properties with toxic, explosive or other hazardous properties of such matter; (h) "nuclear fuel" means any material which is capable of producing energy by a self-sustaining chainprocess of nuclear fission; (i) "nuclear incident" means any occurrence or series of occurrences having the same origin whichcauses nuclear damage or, but only with respect to preventive measures, creates a grave and imminentthreat of causing such damage; (j) "nuclear installation" means-- (A) any nuclear reactor other than one with which a means of transport is equipped for use as asource of power, whether for propulsion thereof or for any other purpose; (B) any facility using nuclear fuel for the production of nuclear material, or any facility for theprocessing of nuclear material, including re-processing of irradiated nuclear fuel; and (C) any facility where nuclear material is stored (other than storage incidental to the carriage ofsuch material). "Explanation".--For the purpose of this clause, several nuclear installations of one operator which arelocated at the same site shall be considered as a single nuclear installation; (k) "nuclear material" means and includes (i) nuclear fuel (other than natural uranium or depleted uranium) capable of producing energy bya self-sustaining chain process of nuclear fission outside a nuclear reactor, either by itself or incombination with some other material; and (ii) radioactive products or waste; (l) "nuclear reactor" means any structure containing nuclear fuel in such an arrangement that a selfsustainingchain process of nuclear fission can occur therein without an additional source of neutrons; (m) "operator", in relation to a nuclear installation, means the Central Government or any authority orcorporation established by it or a Government company who has been granted a licence pursuant to theAtomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) for the operation of that installation; (n) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; (o) "preventive measures" means any reasonable measures taken by a person after a nuclear incidenthas occurred to prevent or minimise damage referred to in sub-clauses (i) to (v) and (vii) of clause (g),subject to the approval of the Central Government; (p) "radioactive products or waste" means any radioactive material produced in, or any material maderadioactive by exposure to, the radiation incidental to the production or utilisation of nuclear fuel, butdoes not include radioisotopes which have reached the final stage of fabrication so as to be usable for anyscientific, medical, agricultural, commercial or industrial purpose; (q) "Special Drawing Rights" means Special Drawing Rights as determined by the InternationalMonetary Fund.

(1) The Atomic EnergyRegulatory Board constituted under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (33 of 1962) shall, within a period offifteen days from the date of occurrence of a nuclear incident, notify such nuclear incident: Provided that where the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board is satisfied that the gravity of threat andrisk involved in a nuclear incident is insignificant, it shall not be required to notify such nuclear incident. (2) The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board shall, immediately after the notification under sub-section(1) is issued, cause wide publicity to be given to the occurrence of such nuclear incident, in such manneras it may deem fit.

(1) The operator of the nuclear installation shall be liable for nucleardamage caused by a nuclear incident-- (a) in that nuclear installation; or (b) involving nuclear material coming from, or originating in, that nuclear installation andoccurring before-- (i) the liability for nuclear incident involving such nuclear material has been assumed,pursuant to a written agreement, by another operator; or (ii) another operator has taken charge of such nuclear material; or (iii) the person duly authorised to operate a nuclear reactor has taken charge of the nuclearmaterial intended to be used in that reactor with which means of transport is equipped for use as asource of power, whether for propulsion thereof or for any other purpose; or (iv) such nuclear material has been unloaded from the means of transport by which it was sentto a person within the territory of a foreign State; or (c) involving nuclear material sent to that nuclear installation and occurring after-- (i) the liability for nuclear incident involving such nuclear material has been transferred tothat operator, pursuant to a written agreement, by the operator of another nuclear installation; or (ii) that operator has taken charge of such nuclear material; or (iii) that operator has taken charge of such nuclear material from a person operating a nuclearreactor with which a means of transport is equipped for use as a source of power, whether forpropulsion thereof or for any other purpose; or (iv) such nuclear material has been loaded, with the written consent of that operator, on themeans of transport by which it is to be carried from the territory of a foreign State. (2) Where more than one operator is liable for nuclear damage, the liability of the operators soinvolved shall, in so far as the damage attributable to each operator is not separable, be joint and several: Provided that the total liability of such operators shall not exceed the extent of liability specifiedunder sub-section (2) of section 6. (3) Where several nuclear installations of one and the same operator are involved in a nuclearincident, such operator shall, in respect of each such nuclear installation, be liable to the extent of liabilityspecified under sub-section (2) of section 6. (4) The liability of the operator of the nuclear installation shall be strict and shall be based on theprinciple of no-fault liability. Explanation.--For the purposes of this section,-- (a) where nuclear damage is caused by a nuclear incident occurring in a nuclear installation onaccount of temporary storage of material-in-transit in such installation, the person responsible fortransit of such material shall be deemed to be the operator; (b) where a nuclear damage is caused as a result of nuclear incident during the transportation ofnuclear material, the consignor shall be deemed to be the operator; (c) where any written agreement has been entered into between the consignor and the consigneeor, as the case may be, the consignor and the carrier of nuclear material, the person liable for anynuclear damage under such agreement shall be deemed to be the operator; (d) where both nuclear damage and damage other than nuclear damage have been caused by anuclear incident or, jointly by a nuclear incident and one or more other occurrences, such otherdamage shall, to the extent it is not separable from the nuclear damage, be deemed to be a nucleardamage caused by such nuclear incident.

(1) An operator shall not be liable for any nucleardamage where such damage is caused by a nuclear incident directly due to- (i) a grave natural disaster of an exceptional character; or (ii) an act of armed conflict, hostility, civil war, insurrection or terrorism. (2) An operator shall not be liable for any nuclear damage caused to-- (i) the nuclear installation itself and any other nuclear installation including a nuclear installationunder construction, on the site where such installation is located; and (ii) to any property on the same site which is used or to be used in connection with any suchinstallation; or (iii) to the means of transport upon which the nuclear material involved was carried at the time ofnuclear incident: Provided that any compensation liable to be paid by an operator for a nuclear damage shall nothave the effect of reducing the amount of his liability in respect of any other claim for damage underany other law for the time being in force. (3) Where any nuclear damage is suffered by a person on account of his own negligence or from hisown acts of commission or omission, the operator shall not be liable to such person.