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Radiation Protection Regulation: An Opportunity For Cooperative Federalism, Robert L. Hamilton, William A.W. Krebs, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to explore the question of how governmental responsibility for regulation of radiation hazards associated with atomic energy activities may best be allocated between the federal government and the states. While division of such responsibility is theoretically not essential--it being legally conceivable that the federal government could shoulder the entire responsibility alone or could leave it entirely to the states--various factors which will be mentioned below appear to make some sort of division of responsibility a practical necessity. To explore this question of division of responsibility, we shall first review the nature of radiation and …