Event: Meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, 2011
Location: Japan
Economic cost: It is impossible to separate the economic losses of the Fukushima meltdown from the wider losses wrought by the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The total economic losses for these events reached $210bn.
Description: A tsunami on 11 March 2011, triggered by a magnitude 9 earthquake, flooded the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, leading to hydrogen explosions and three level-7 meltdowns.
Damage: Wide-ranging economic repercussions included energy supply disruptions and supply chain interruption as a result of exclusion zones imposed around the plant. The Tokyo Electric Power Company’s capacity was reduced by around 40%, and it enacted rolling blackouts throughout Tokyo and eight other prefectures, affecting around 1.45 million businesses.
Insight: Fukushima drew attention to non-damage business interruption brought about by a nuclear exclusion zone, a risk not usually covered under traditional insurance policies. This fits into a broader theme of contingent, or non-damage, business interruption.
Insurance solutions: The Lloyd's market offers cover in relation to Nuclear accident. Examples of this include but are not limited to: Energy onshore property, energy casualty, nuclear third-party liability, environmental liability, directors' and officers', professional indemnity, workers' compensation, business interruption and contingent business interruption (including specialist covers triggered by nuclear exclusion zones).
Image: Police in radiation suits search Ukedo beach near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the bodies of victims of the tsunami that crippled the facility in 2011 (Getty Images)
Sources: World Bank; World Nuclear Association Symposium 2014
