Legal Imputation of Radiation Harm to Radiation Exposure Situations

Abstract

AbstractThe doctrine for legal imputation (including the derivative concepts of legal charging, suing, indicting, prosecuting and judging) of detrimental health effects to those responsible for radiation exposure situations has been a matter of debate for many years and its resolution is still unclear. While the attribution of harm in the situations involving high radiation dose is basically straightforward, the challenge arises at medium doses and becomes a real conundrum for the very common situations of exposure to low radiation doses. The ambiguous situation could be construed to be a Damocles sword for the renaissance of endeavours involving occupational and public radiation exposure. This chapter describes the epistemological situation on the attribution of radiation health effects and the inference of radiation risks, relying on estimates from the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation (UNSCEAR) reported to the UN General Assembly. It discusses the implications of UNSCEAR’s refined paradigm for assigning legal liability. The chapter concludes with a recommendation to develop an international legal doctrine on the ability to impute detrimental radiation health effects.