Albanese government also asked if it has considered nuclear insurance pool in context of Aukus nuclear-powered submarinesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPeter Dutton has sidestepped questions about the potential need for a government-backed insurance pool for nuclear disasters after the industry’s peak body exposed a possible missing piece in his flagship energy plan.The Insurance Council of Australia on Monday suggested the commonwealth may need to underwrite a scheme to cover communities against nuclear accidents.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…Albanese government also asked if it has considered nuclear insurance pool in context of Aukus nuclear-powered submarinesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPeter Dutton has sidestepped questions about the potential need for a government-backed insurance pool for nuclear disasters after the industry’s peak body exposed a possible missing piece in his flagship energy plan.The Insurance Council of Australia on Monday suggested the commonwealth may need to underwrite a scheme to cover communities against nuclear accidents.Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading…
Peter Dutton has sidestepped questions about the potential need for a government-backed insurance pool for nuclear disasters after the industry’s peak body exposed a possible missing piece in his flagship energy plan.
The Insurance Council of Australia on Monday suggested the commonwealth may need to underwrite a scheme to cover communities against nuclear accidents.
“Around the world, nuclear has a special [insurance] cover that is usually done by governments,” the council’s chief executive, Andrew Hall, told ABC RN Breakfast.
“So it’s a conversation: if Australia turns to a net zero nuclear future, then we’re going to need to have a conversation with the government about a pool that would cover communities in the extremely unlikely event something would happen.”
Hall indicated such a scheme would be needed even if the Coalition’s nuclear plans never eventuated, to cover residents living near naval bases for the Aukus nuclear-powered submarines.
Neither the US nor UK has ever experienced a nuclear reactor accident on their submarines.
The insurance question has been largely overlooked in the debate about Dutton’s proposal to build nuclear reactors at seven sites. Attention has focused instead on the cost and timeline for starting an Australian nuclear power industry from scratch.
Countries with established nuclear industries have longstanding insurance schemes to cover personal injury and damage caused by nuclear disaster.
In the US, operators of nuclear power plants pay an annual premium for US$500m (about A$786m) in private insurance for liability coverage for each reactor.
Asked on Monday if the Coalition had modelled the cost of a nuclear insurance scheme, Dutton did not respond to the question, instead reiterating the threat of market intervention if insurers did not lower premiums.
The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, struggled to answer similar questions when pressed repeatedly on ABC radio earlier in the day.
Insurance is not mentioned in either the Coalition’s six-page nuclear blueprint or in the Frontier Economics costings underpinning the proposal.
The Australia Institute thinktank in 2019 described nuclear power as “uninsurable”, warning that if operators were forced to cover the cost of accidents then the reactors would be “completely uncompetitive”.
In a statement to Guardian Australia, an Insurance Council of Australia spokesperson said it was common for insurance policies to exclude loss or damage caused by nuclear power.
“However, insurers in Europe, the US, and other countries where nuclear power generation is common have insurance mechanisms in place to cover liability concerns,” the spokesperson said.
“These include liability insurance pools, international agreements and conventions, and government programs to establish coverage and frameworks for nuclear liability insurance.”
Guardian Australia asked the defence minister, Richard Marles, if the government had considered a nuclear insurance pool in the context of Aukus.
In a statement, an Australian Submarine Agency spokesperson did not comment on the idea of an insurance pool.
The spokesperson said the government’s commitment to safely managing nuclear propulsion technology was “unwavering”, adding that the US and UK’s decades of experience maintaining nuclear-powered submarines would help Australia become a “world leader in nuclear stewardship”.
Dutton’s Monday doubling down on threats to insurers followed his comments on Sunday that a Coalition government would use so-called divestiture powers to forcibly break up companies found to be price-gouging policyholders.
“I’ll just put the insurance sector on notice right now that when we win the election, I expect them to bring down insurance premiums significantly by the time we form a government,” he told reporters in Brisbane on Monday.
“And if they don’t, then I will deal with the industry afterwards, because we can’t have people who can’t afford to insure against public liability.”
Hall dismissed divestiture as an option, insisting the solution was more government investment to reduce the risk to properties from natural disasters.
He claimed “very little” of the almost $7bn he said was collected from stamp duty and GST on home insurance policies was reinvested in disaster resilience.
Labor revamped the commonwealth disaster ready fund in 2023 to allow for the withdrawal of up $200m a year to fund projects.
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