RE: Nova - Dirty Bombs

["George J. Vargo" <vargo@physicist.net>]

This is so ancient, it's almost pathetic to revisit.  For at long as

"nukulur" (the current Bushieism for things involving the inner portion

of the atom as we understand it) has been a part of our vocabulary

(Thanks to Ike for the first public murder of this English word!)  there

has been a "nuclear" exclusion in commercial insurance policies.

Perhaps one among us who is more knowledgeable than I can speak to the

vagaries of the Price Anderson Act, which forms the basis for current

nuclear liability insurance.  With the dawn of the nukulur era, the

fledgling nuclear industry would never have generated the first private

sector megawatt given the spectre of unlimited liability from an

"extraordinary nuclear occurrence", without a federal shield (AKA

subsidy) provided by the PAA.  Go back and read your oldest homeowners

policy -- the nuke exclusion is there, has been and will forevermore.

When I had a radon analytical business in the 1980s and needed general

business liability insurance, I had to go into  a Swiss insurance pool

to get coverage just because I admitted to the presence of natural

radioactivity in analytical samples.



Get over it.



George J. Vargo, Ph.D., CHP

vargo@physicist.net

610-925-1954

610-925-5545 (fax)





-----Original Message-----

From: owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

[mailto:owner-radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu] On Behalf Of Strickert, Rick

Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 5:09 PM

To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu

Subject: RE: Nova - Dirty Bombs 





Maybe someone at State Farm Insurance saw the Nova show last night.  



Excerpted from an Associated Press Breaking News story:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/02/26/fin

ancial1619EST0226.DTL



	02-26) 13:19 PST BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- 

	State Farm, the nation's largest auto and residential insurer,

is changing its car insurance policies to clearly exclude claims

stemming from nuclear explosions or radioactive fallout. 

	The Bloomington-based insurer is mailing notices to 40 million

auto policyholders that says nuclear blasts or radioactive damage are

not normal road hazards, whether the incidents are accidental or

intentional. 

	State Farm spokesman Joe Johnson said the company reviewed

policies in the wake of heightened awareness over terrorism and realized

there was no specific language regarding nuclear-related claims. 

	"Basically, a nuclear event is the type of situation that could

threaten an insurance company's solvency," Johnson said. 

	Most insurers' auto and homeowners policies contain a similar

exclusion, said Loretta Worters, spokeswoman for the Insurance

Information Institute. State Farm already excludes nuclear-related

claims in its homeowners policies. 

	The nuclear exclusion will be added to automobile policies up

for renewal beginning Dec. 1, and should be included in all State Farm

auto policies by June 1, 2004, Johnson said. 



Perhaps all that Homeland Security duct tape and plastic sheeting can be

used to cover your car, 'cause your insurance  isn't going to do it.

;-)



Rick Strickert

Austin, TX



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