Since the dawn of the atomic age, the nuclear industry has struggled to balance public trust with its promise of clean, abundant energy. Legal protections like the Price-Anderson Act (PAA) have shielded the industry from the full force of tort liability. On the other hand, accidents like Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Fukushima continue to fuel public skepticism. As small modular reactors (SMRs) promise to revolutionize nuclear energy, the existing liability framework faces new challenges. This Note argues that rigid federal preemption of state tort standards, as applied by many courts under the PAA, no longer serves the industry—or the public—in this new era.
Author
J.D. Candidate, 2026, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.