The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010 (CLNDA) is an Act of the Parliament of India that establishes a legal framework for compensating victims of a nuclear accident. It was enacted on September 21, 2010, and came into force on November 11, 2011, primarily to facilitate India's participation in international nuclear commerce, particularly the Indo-U.S. civilian nuclear agreement. The Act solved the problem of having no dedicated civil law for nuclear damage liability, which was a prerequisite for foreign nuclear suppliers.
The CLNDA operates on a No-Fault Liability Regime, channeling liability exclusively to the operator of the nuclear installation, meaning the operator is liable regardless of fault or negligence. Section 4(4) establishes this strict liability for the operator. The operator's liability is capped at ₹1,500 crore for reactors of 10 MW or more, and they must cover this liability through insurance or financial security. If the damage exceeds this cap, the Central Government assumes responsibility for the additional compensation, up to the equivalent of 300 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR).
The most debated provision is Section 17, which grants the operator a "right of recourse" against the supplier under three specific conditions. This right allows the operator to claim compensation from the supplier if the right is expressly provided in a written contract (Section 17(a)), if the incident resulted from the supplier's act, including the supply of equipment with patent or latent defects or sub-standard services (Section 17(b)), or if the incident was caused by an individual's intentional act to cause damage (Section 17(c)). This provision, particularly Section 17(b), is unique to India and goes beyond the international norm of channeling liability solely to the operator, which is a principle of the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage (CSC). India ratified the CSC in 2016, and the CLNDA is broadly in conformity with it, providing the basis for India's adherence to the international liability regime. The Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Rules, 2011, and the India Nuclear Insurance Pool (INIP) were later instituted to clarify and facilitate the implementation of the Act, especially concerning the right of recourse.