Minibus appropriations bill with Defense Department funds has Price-Anderson extension

A federal nuclear liability shield would be extended for 40 years and quadruple the value of federal indemnity for nuclear incidents outside the U.S. if a 2024 appropriations bill released Thursday becomes law.

The language in the appropriations package that funds the Department of Defense and several other agencies would extend the Price-Anderson protections to Dec. 31, 2065 and require the federal government to indemnify companies for $2 billion worth damages arising from nuclear incidents abroad, up from $500 million under the current law.

Price-Anderson applied to both Department of Energy contractors and commercial nuclear power plant operators.

The maximum insurance requirements for nuclear power plant operators would remain at $500 million. The federal government covers damages from nuclear incidents above that amount.

The House and Senates had not scheduled votes on the appropriations package as of Thursday afternoon, but funding for the federal agencies for which the package would make new appropriations runs out after Friday.

Price-Anderson protections would expire after Dec. 31, 2025, under current law. The House in February passed an unrelated bill that also contained a 40-year Price-Anderson extension.

In joint statement, Sens. Tom Carper (D-Del.) and Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.), the chair and ranking member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, said they inserted the language into what is widely considered a must-pass appropriations bill that President Joe Biden (D) on Thursday said he would sign..