SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM 8-K/A No. 1
CURRENT REPORT
PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
Date of Report (date of
earliest event reported): October 17, 1995
METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
Pennsylvania 1-446 23-0870160
(State or other (Commission (IRS employer
jurisdiction of file number) identification no.)
incorporation)
2800 Pottsville Pike, Reading, Muhlenberg Township, Berks County,
PA 19640-0001
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (610) 929-3601
ITEM 5. OTHER EVENTS
Item 5 of the Form 8-K dated October 17, 1995 ("Form 8-
K") is amended in its entirety to read as follows:
As previously reported, as a result of the 1979 accident
at Unit No.2 of the Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station
(TMI-2) and its aftermath, individual claims for alleged personal
injury (including claims for punitive damages), which are material
in amount, have been asserted against General Public Utilities
Corporation ("Corporation") and Jersey Central Power & Light
Company, Metropolitan Edison Company and Pennsylvania Electric
Company ("Subsidiaries"). Approximately 2,100 of such claims are
pending in the United States District Court for the Middle District
of Pennsylvania. At the time of the accident, as provided for in
the Price-Anderson Act (which, among other things, provides
liability limitations for accidents involving commercial nuclear
reactors), the Subsidiaries had (i) primary financial protection in
the form of insurance policies with groups of insurance companies
providing an aggregate of $140 million of primary coverage, (ii)
secondary financial protection in the form of private liability
insurance under an industry retrospective rating plan providing for
up to an aggregate of $335 million in premium charges under such
plan and (iii) an indemnity agreement with the NRC for up to an
aggregate of $85 million, bringing the total primary, secondary and
tertiary financial protection up to an aggregate of $560 million.
Under the secondary level, the Subsidiaries are subject to a
retrospective premium charge on a pro rata basis, which in the
aggregate will not exceed $15 million, as their portion of this
level of financial protection. In March 1994, the defendants in
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the TMI-2 litigation and the insurers agreed that the insurers
would withdraw their reservation of rights with respect to any
award of punitive damages.
On October 17, 1995, the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit ruled that the federal Price-Anderson Act provides coverage
under its primary and secondary levels for punitive as well as
compensatory damages, but that punitive damages could not be
recovered against the Federal Government which, as described above,
provides the third level of financial protection. In so doing, the
Court referred to the "finite fund" to which plaintiffs must resort
to get compensatory as well as punitive damages.
The Court of Appeals, in a related action, also found that
the standard of care owed by the defendants to a plaintiff was
determined by the specific level of radiation which was released
into the environment, as measured at the site boundary, rather than
as measured (as the GPU defendants proposed) at the specific site
where the plaintiff was located at the time of the accident. The
Court also held, however, that each plaintiff still must
demonstrate exposure to radiation released during the TMI accident
and that such exposure had resulted in their injuries.
The GPU defendants believe that any liability to which they
might be subject by reason of the TMI-2 accident and these Third
Circuit decisions will not exceed their financial protection under
the Price-Anderson Act. A trial of ten allegedly representative
cases is scheduled to begin in June 1996.
A copy of a related news release is annexed as an exhibit
to the Form 8-K.
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SIGNATURE
PURSUANT TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE
ACT OF 1934, THE REGISTRANT HAS DULY CAUSED THIS REPORT TO BE
SIGNED ON ITS BEHALF BY THE UNDERSIGNED THEREUNTO DULY AUTHORIZED.
METROPOLITAN EDISON COMPANY
By:
T. G. Howson, Vice President
and Treasurer
Date: October 27, 1995