Federal Laws Addressing Liability

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The Price-Anderson Act

The Price-Anderson Act, 42 U.S.C. § 2210, as amended in 1975, limited the aggregate liability for a single "nuclear incident" to $560 million to be paid from contributions from nuclear power plant operators, private insurance, and the Federal Government. In addition, the amended Act required operators to waive certain legal defenses in the event of a substantial nuclear incident. The Act was critical to the development of the private nuclear power industry in the United States. Congress appreciated that, even though the risk of a major nuclear accident was extremely remote, the potential liability dwarfed the ability of the nuclear power industry and private insurance companies to absorb the risk. Without reasonable and defined limits on liability, there would probably be no nuclear power industry in the United States.