CL370 Institute Radioactive Contamination, Chemical, Biological, Bio-chemical and Electromagnetic Weapons Exclusion Clause

CL370 bears the same date as CL380: November 10, 2003. The two clauses were born together, in the post-9/11 London marine market, and travel together in nearly every hull and cargo policy. CL370 is a paramount clause, meaning it overrides anything else in the policy, a war extension included. It excludes, in five sub-clauses, loss caused by ionizing radiation or radioactive contamination from nuclear fuel or waste (1.1). Next come the hazardous properties of a nuclear installation, reactor or other nuclear assembly (1.2), then any weapon employing nuclear fission or fusion (1.3). The list closes on the radioactive, toxic, explosive or other hazardous properties of any radioactive matter (1.4), and any chemical, biological, bio-chemical or electromagnetic weapon (1.5). One carve-out matters, and it applies to sub-clause 1.4 only: radioactive isotopes other than nuclear fuel, when prepared, carried, stored or used for commercial, agricultural, medical, scientific or other similar peaceful purposes, fall outside it. The other four sub-clauses stay whole. That carve-out is what lets a container of medical sources be insured. The electromagnetic limb is the most debated today. It targets the weapon, not the breakdown, and a ship whose electronics burn out under military jamming raises a question the 2003 text did not foresee.