6 ms·

Lloyds of London are quite open and proud of being willing to insure anything - they've insured singer's voices, model's legs, all manner of things.

Slartie 5y ago
Are they insuring densely populated countries against the consequences of disastrous nuclear reactor accidents?
- michaelt 5y ago
  I suspect even a company that claims to 'insure anything' would balk at things needing a $200 billion payout.
  - Sebb767 5y ago
    Well, there's always the strategy of 'take the payouts, go insolvent in case the event really happens'. But, on the other hand, such a high possible payout would probably come with insane premiums that might make it viable (for the insurance, not the country).
  - yardstick 5y ago
    Depends on the premium they would charge.
- throwaway2037 5y ago
  Are you thinking of Belgium, Korea, Taiwan, or Japan?
- woutifier 5y ago
  For nuclear reactor incidents there are reinsurance pools. A collective of insurance companies. For example the nuclear reactor in Borssele, The Netherlands, is insured backed by 26 of such collectives (one national, and 25 foreign collectives) together they consist of over 300 individual insurance companies. This particular (small) reactor is insured for liability up to 1.2 billion euro.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    The problem is, the followup costs for a nuclear reactor disaster can easily reach multiple trillions of euros - and no plant is adequately insured. In Germany, they did the maths [1] in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster and found out that decent insurance would cost 72 billion euros a year in premiums - a move that would raise electricity prices from 20 ct/kWh to 4 euros/kWh. We have been ignoring that massive risk in favor of "cheap" electricity for decades, and every time something happened, in the end the taxpayers had to cover the bill. Nuclear simply is financially unviable once externalities are properly accounted for. Add to that cost and time overruns in projects, the still unsolved questions of where to dump the waste, of nuclear weapon fuel proliferation... and just forget about fission-based nuclear projects, please. [1] https://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/versicherungen/a-761954.html https://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/versicherungen/a-761...
    - Chris2048 5y ago
      Given Chernobyl cost about around 235 billion USD to cleanup - What constitutes "decent insurance"? How much are they expecting to pay out?
      - mschuster91 5y ago
        It's not just the direct cleanup costs - the number goes up extremely hard if you also attempt to account for externalized costs that are rarely grouped together: - loss of life and the economic productivity of people who died early (not just the liquidators, but also everyone who got radiation damage!) - loss of sellability of goods - to this day, Bavarian shroom collectors and hunters have to check fungi or wild animals for radiation, and in particularly bad years up to 70% of wild pigs have to be discarded due to irradiation [1]. That's an economic loss for the hunters and for all subsequent economic activities (butchers, restaurants). - healthcare cost associated with dealing with the fallout - cancers are the most expensive illnesses known to mankind - loss of quality of life in those who were displaced by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, additionally also the cost of relocating and the loss of opportunities, social networks etc. caused by the relocating - loss of economic potential that could have been realized in the area around Chernobyl, had it not been contaminated [1] https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article230648425/35-Jahre-nach-Tschernobyl-Ungeniessbares-Wildfleisch-in-Bayern.html https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article230648425/35-Jahre-n...
fmdragon 5y ago
They were known in the 90's for insuring pro wrestlers bodies if they were injured to the point that they could no longer perform. It was pretty common to hear about a wrestler retiring with a "Lloyds settlement".

Slartie 5y ago

Are they insuring densely populated countries against the consequences of disastrous nuclear reactor accidents?

michaelt 5y ago
I suspect even a company that claims to 'insure anything' would balk at things needing a $200 billion payout.
- Sebb767 5y ago
  Well, there's always the strategy of 'take the payouts, go insolvent in case the event really happens'. But, on the other hand, such a high possible payout would probably come with insane premiums that might make it viable (for the insurance, not the country).
- yardstick 5y ago
  Depends on the premium they would charge.
throwaway2037 5y ago
Are you thinking of Belgium, Korea, Taiwan, or Japan?
woutifier 5y ago
For nuclear reactor incidents there are reinsurance pools. A collective of insurance companies. For example the nuclear reactor in Borssele, The Netherlands, is insured backed by 26 of such collectives (one national, and 25 foreign collectives) together they consist of over 300 individual insurance companies. This particular (small) reactor is insured for liability up to 1.2 billion euro.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  The problem is, the followup costs for a nuclear reactor disaster can easily reach multiple trillions of euros - and no plant is adequately insured. In Germany, they did the maths [1] in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima disaster and found out that decent insurance would cost 72 billion euros a year in premiums - a move that would raise electricity prices from 20 ct/kWh to 4 euros/kWh. We have been ignoring that massive risk in favor of "cheap" electricity for decades, and every time something happened, in the end the taxpayers had to cover the bill. Nuclear simply is financially unviable once externalities are properly accounted for. Add to that cost and time overruns in projects, the still unsolved questions of where to dump the waste, of nuclear weapon fuel proliferation... and just forget about fission-based nuclear projects, please. [1] https://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/versicherungen/a-761954.html https://www.manager-magazin.de/finanzen/versicherungen/a-761...
  - Chris2048 5y ago
    Given Chernobyl cost about around 235 billion USD to cleanup - What constitutes "decent insurance"? How much are they expecting to pay out?
    - mschuster91 5y ago
      It's not just the direct cleanup costs - the number goes up extremely hard if you also attempt to account for externalized costs that are rarely grouped together: - loss of life and the economic productivity of people who died early (not just the liquidators, but also everyone who got radiation damage!) - loss of sellability of goods - to this day, Bavarian shroom collectors and hunters have to check fungi or wild animals for radiation, and in particularly bad years up to 70% of wild pigs have to be discarded due to irradiation [1]. That's an economic loss for the hunters and for all subsequent economic activities (butchers, restaurants). - healthcare cost associated with dealing with the fallout - cancers are the most expensive illnesses known to mankind - loss of quality of life in those who were displaced by the Chernobyl and Fukushima disasters, additionally also the cost of relocating and the loss of opportunities, social networks etc. caused by the relocating - loss of economic potential that could have been realized in the area around Chernobyl, had it not been contaminated [1] https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article230648425/35-Jahre-nach-Tschernobyl-Ungeniessbares-Wildfleisch-in-Bayern.html https://www.welt.de/wissenschaft/article230648425/35-Jahre-n...

fmdragon 5y ago

They were known in the 90's for insuring pro wrestlers bodies if they were injured to the point that they could no longer perform. It was pretty common to hear about a wrestler retiring with a "Lloyds settlement".