This analytic essay situates the nuclear industries of the United States and the United Kingdom in a legal sanctioning system, referred to as cooperative. Knowing the type of sanctioning system applied to a particular industry, it is then possible to identify the working rules that result in the interpretation of events as routine, accidental, criminal and so on. In short, the explanation of the level and quality of societal response lies in the system of sanctioning used to respond to them. The study of the regulation of nuclear power production raises issues about the cooperative system, or a system of governmental auto regulation, the limits of the law and modes of domination.
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