This latest revision requires, just as before, that nuclear plant operators purchase all private insurance available to them—currently $300 million—to serve as first-level coverage. Companies are obligated to contribute to a second-level fund if this amount is not sufficient to cover claims arising from an accident.

The legislation also raises the maximum required fee at the secondary level from $63 million to $95.8 million per reactor, for a total of more than $10 billion in total coverage. In addition, it raises the annual secondary-level payout from $10 million to $15 million per reactor and adjusts the payout for inflation in the future.

Effective Response to Three Mile Island 2 Accident
The Three Mile Island 2 accident in 1979 demonstrated the ability of the Price-Anderson Act to effectively provide care for the public. Immediately following the accident, Pennsylvania’s governor recommended the evacuation of pregnant women and families with young children living in the area nearest the plant site. At the time of the accident, the private insurance pools had $140 million in first-level coverage in force. The pools immediately assembled insurance adjusters from across the country at a central claims office in Harrisburg, Pa.

These adjusters advanced money to families affected by the governor’s recommendation for living expenses incurred while away from their homes, with the request that any unused funds be returned. Recipients responded by sending back several thousand dollars. In addition, the insurance pools reimbursed 636 individuals and families for lost wages as a result of the accident.

In addition to the cash advances and reimbursements, the insurance pools later settled a class-action suit for economic loss filed on behalf of people living in a 25-mile radius around Three Mile Island 2. The last of the litigation was resolved in early 2003.

Insurance pools have paid approximately $71 million to date in claims and litigation costs connected with the Three Mile Island 2 accident.

U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Act
In 1973, a group of plaintiffs challenged the act’s liability limit. The Carolina Environmental Study Group, the Catawba Central Labor Union and 40 individuals brought a suit against Duke Power Co., which was building nuclear power plants in North and South Carolina. The plaintiffs, who lived near the plants under construction, sought a declaration that the Price-Anderson Act was unconstitutional.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Carolina ruled in favor of the plaintiffs. Duke Power Co. appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court. In June 1978, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of the act. In an opinion written by Chief Justice Warren Burger, the court held that because the liability limit was created to encourage private-sector construction of nuclear power plants, it was neither arbitrary nor irrational.