Nuclear Installations Act 1965

Bringing and satisfaction of claims

15 Time for bringing claims under ss. 7 to 11

(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section and to section 16(3) of this Act, but notwithstanding anything in any other enactment, a claim by virtue of any of sections 7 to 11 of this Act may be made at any time before, but shall not be entertained if made at any time after, the expiration of thirty years from the relevant date, that is to say, the date of the occurrence which gave rise to the claim or, where that occurrence was a continuing one, or was one of a succession of occurrences all attributable to a particular happening on a particular relevant site or to the carrying out from time to time on a particular relevant site of a particular operation, the date of the last event in the course of that occurrence or succession of occurrences to which the claim relates.

(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, a claim in respect of injury or damage caused by an occurrence involving nuclear matter stolen from, or lost, jettisoned or abandoned by, the person whose breach of a duty imposed by section 7, 8, 9 or 10 of this Act gave rise to the claim shall not be entertained if the occurrence takes place after the expiration of the period of twenty years beginning with the day when the nuclear matter in question was so stolen, lost, jettisoned or abandoned.

16 Satisfaction of claims by virtue of ss. 7 to 10

(1) The liability of any person to pay compensation under this Act by virtue of a duty imposed on that person by section 7, 8 or 9 thereof shall not require him to make in respect of any one occurrence constituting a breach of that duty payments by way of such compensation exceeding in the aggregate, apart from payments in respect of interest or costs, five million pounds.

(2) A relevant foreign operator shall not be required by virtue of section 10 of this Act to make any payment by way of compensation in respect of an occurrence—

(a) if he would not have been required to make that payment if the occurrence had taken place in his home territory and the claim had been made by virtue of the relevant foreign law made for purposes corresponding to those of section 7, 8 or 9 of this Act; or

(b) to the extent that the amount required for the satisfaction of the claim is not required to be available by the relevant foreign law made for purposes corresponding to those of section 19(1) of this Act and has not been made available under section 18 of this Act or by means of a relevant foreign contribution.

(3) Any claim by virtue of a duty imposed on any person by section 7, 8, 9 or 10 of this Act—

(a) to the extent to which, by virtue of subsection (1) or (2) of this section, though duly established, it is not or would not be payable by that person; or

(b) which is made after the expiration of the relevant period; or

(c) which, being such a claim as is mentioned in section 15(2) of this Act, is made after the expiration of the period of twenty years so mentioned; or

(d) which is a claim the full satisfaction of which out of funds otherwise required to be, or to be made, available for the purpose is prevented by section 21(1) of this Act,

shall be made to the appropriate authority, that is to say—

(i) in the case of a claim by virtue of the said section 8, the Minister of Technology;

(ii) in the case of a claim by virtue of the said section 9 (other than a claim in connection with a site used by a department of the Government of Northern Ireland), the Minister in charge of the government department concerned;

(iii) in any other case, the Minister,

and, if established to the satisfaction of the appropriate authority, and to the extent to which it cannot be satisfied out of sums made available for the purpose under section 18 of this Act or by means of a relevant foreign contribution, shall be satisfied by the appropriate authority to such extent and out of funds provided by such means as Parliament may determine.

(4) Where in pursuance of subsection (3) of this section a claim has been made to the appropriate authority, any question affecting the establishment of the claim or as to the amount of any compensation in satisfaction of the claim may, if the authority thinks fit, be referred for decision to the appropriate court, that is to say, to whichever of the High Court, the Court of Session and the High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland would, but for the provisions of this section, have had jurisdiction in accordance with section 17(1) and (2) of this Act to determine the claim ; and the claimant may appeal to that court from any decision of the authority on any such question which is not so referred; and on any such reference or appeal—

(a) the authority shall be entitled to appear and be heard; and

(b) notwithstanding anything in any Act, the decision of the court shall be final.

(5) In this section, the expression " the relevant period" means the period of ten years beginning with the relevant date within the meaning of section 15(1) of this Act.

17 Jurisdiction, shared liability and foreign judgments

(1) No court in the United Kingdom or any part thereof shall have jurisdiction to determine any claim or question under this Act certified by the Minister to be a claim or question which, under any relevant international agreement, falls to be determined by a court of some other relevant territory or, as the case may be, of some other part of the United Kingdom; and any proceedings to enforce such a claim which are commenced in any court in the United Kingdom or, as the case may be, that part thereof shall be set aside.

(2) Where under the foregoing subsection the Minister certifies that any claim or question falls to be determined by a court in a particular part of the United Kingdom, that certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the jurisdiction of that court to determine that claim or question.

(3) Where by virtue of any one or more of the following, that is to say, sections 7, 8, 9 and 10 of this Act and any relevant foreign law made for purposes corresponding to those of any of those sections, liability in respect of the same injury or damage is incurred by two or more persons, then, for the purposes of any proceedings in the United Kingdom relating to that injury or damage, including proceedings for the enforcement of a judgment registered under the [1933 c. 13.] Foreign Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Act 1933—

(a) both or all of those persons shall be treated as jointly and severally liable in respect of that injury or damage ; and

(b) until claims against each of those persons in respect of the occurrence by virtue of which the person in question is liable for that injury or damage have been satisfied—

(i) in the case of a licensee, the Authority or the Crown, up to an aggregate amount of five million pounds; or

(ii) in the case of a relevant foreign operator, up to such aggregate amount, not being less than one and three-quarter million pounds, as may be provided for by the relevant foreign law made for purposes corresponding to those of section 19(1) of this Act,

no sums in excess of those required for the purposes of sub-paragraph (i) of this paragraph shall be required to be made available under section 18 of this Act for the purpose of paying compensation in respect of that injury or damage.

(4) Part I of the said Act of 1933 shall apply to any judgment given in a court of any foreign country which is certified by the Minister to be a relevant foreign judgment for the purposes of this Act, whether or not it would otherwise have so applied, and shall have effect in relation to any judgment ,so certified as if in section 4 of that Act subsections (1)(a)(ii), (2) and (3) were omitted.

(5) It shall be sufficient defence to proceedings in the United Kingdom against any person for the recovery of a sum alleged to be payable under a judgment given in a country outside the United Kingdom for that person to show that—

(a) the sum in question was awarded in respect of injury or damage of a description which is the subject of a relevant international agreement; and

(b) the country in question is not a relevant territory; and

(c) the sum in question was not awarded in pursuance of any of the international conventions referred to in the Acts mentioned in section 12(4) of this Act.

(6) Where, in the case of any claim by virtue of section 10 of this Act, the relevant foreign operator is the government of a relevant territory, then, for the purposes of any proceedings brought in a court in the United Kingdom to enforce that claim, that government shall be deemed to have submitted to the jurisdiction of that court, and accordingly rules of court may provide for the manner in which any such action is to be commenced and carried on; but nothing in this subsection shall authorise the issue of execution, or in Scotland the execution of diligence, against the property of that government.