Insuring Against Disaster: The Nuclear Industry on Trial

Library Journal

Nuclear power and nuclear plant safety are currently in the news. In this timely work, Johnson discusses conflicts between the nuclear industry and its critics through an in-depth legal/historical account of Duke Power Company and Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Carolina Environmental Study Group (1978). The CESG lawsuit hinged on the constitutionality of Congress's protection of the commercial nuclear industry. The author carefully examines the Price-Anderson Act (1957), which limits that industry's liability to $560 million for a nuclear accident. Johnson explains the group conflicts surrounding the litigation and the Supreme Court's approval of the limitation of liability feature. The issues raised in that litigation are still significant. Recommended. Steven Puro, Political Science Dept., St. Louis Univ.