Glossary

Spent fuel is the fuel bundles that can no longer sustain fission in a nuclear reaction. The terminology is somewhat of a misnomer because there remains a significant amount of energy in the fuel. The main concern regarding spent fuel is that it remains radioactive and requires a long period of time before decaying to stability.

Split dollar plans are a form of life insurance co-ownership that allows one party, often the employer, to help another person carry life insurance protection. Generally, the insured pays the portion of the premium attributable to the life insurance protection while the other party pays the portion attributable to the cash value buildup. At the insured's death, an amount of the proceeds equal to the cash value is paid to the other party with the remaining amount paid to the insured's beneficiaries. This approach provides protection in a permanent life insurance contract at a very low cost to the insured.

The split limits is the approach used in many auto insurance policies which combines the per person and the per occurrence to display the automobile liability limits that apply to an accident. With split limits, three separate dollar amounts apply to each accident. The first limit is a per person limit: the maximum amount that will be paid to any one injured person. The second limit is a per occurrence limit: the maximum amount that will be paid to all injured persons. The third limit is a per occurrence limit that applies to property damage claims; this is the maximum amount that the insurer will pay for damage to other cars or property resulting from the accident.

A sponsor is a legal entity that contributes statutory capital to form a sponsored or association captive.

A sponsored captive is a single-owner or group-owned rental captive, typically formed as a segregated cell company. The sponsor(s) may or may not have capital at risk. In some domiciles, the sponsor has to be an insurance or reinsurance company.

Spousal coverage is a provision in directors and officers (D&O) liability policies extending coverage to an insured's spouse. Although sometimes contained within regular policy provisions, most insurers will provide such coverage by endorsement, often for no additional premium. Spousal coverage is needed because when they are named in lawsuits, directors and officers sometimes shield assets by transferring them to spouses. Recognizing this tactic, plaintiffs' attorneys began naming spouses in suit papers. Spousal coverage provisions do not cover an insured director's or officer's spouse for a wrongful act. Rather, they only cover that spouse's interest in property against which a claim is made.

The spousal coverage extension is the wording in an insurance policy that confers "insured" status upon spouses of "insureds" under that policy. Such coverage is necessary because when confronted by a claim, insureds often transfer assets to a spouse as a means of protecting their assets in the event of an unfavorable outcome in a lawsuit pending against them. Plaintiffs' attorneys have recognized such tactics and often respond by also naming spouses in lawsuits. Spousal coverage extensions state that the policy applies only when a claim is made against a spouse because of either spousal status or spousal ownership in specific assets. Coverage does not apply to the direct acts of a spouse in causing a claim. For example, there would be no coverage for an employee's husband (who is not employed by the insured organization) if he were accused of sexual harassment that allegedly took place at a company picnic hosted by his spouse's (the employee's) company.

Spread loss reinsurance is a form of reinsurance under which premiums are paid during good years to build up a fund from which losses are recovered in bad years. This reinsurance has the effect of stabilizing a cedent's loss ratio over an extended period of time.

Spread of risk refers to the pooling of risks from more than one source. It can be achieved by insuring in the same underwriting period either a large number of homogeneous risks or multiple insured locations or activities with noncorrelated risks.

Spread sectors are nongovernmental fixed income investments with higher yields at greater risk than governmental investments.