Nuclear and other industrial activities create rare likelihoods for very large catastrophes. Available insurance, intra-industry pooling of risk and the net worth of those who cause the risk, provide an inadequate coverage for compensation of third-party damage. In OECD countries, the top layer...

Measured by weight, copper is the third most important metal used by man. The annual value of its 2007 output was on a par with the GDP of e.g. Ukraine. Copper is also one of the oldest metals, its employment going back 7000 years. For millennia, it was predominantly employed for decorative...