Jesse over at Space Law Probe has a link-rich post relating to the legal aspects of space nuclear power.

She raises an interesting point: why has there been no effort by the anti-nuclear crowd to seek an injunction or a restraining order or other legal intervention? Maybe they're just waiting for the right time.

According to this*, the Florida-based Coalition for Peace and Justice filed a lawsuit attempting to block the launch of Cassini just five days before the scheduled liftoff in 1997. FCPJ also brought suit attempting to block the Galileo and Ulysses missions. One has to wonder if they aren't planning to wait until the last minute, knowing that even a brief delay (if somehow they manage to get one) could push the launch past its narrow launch window and derail the mission.

* The article also contains this amusing quote:

The coalition's campaign has escalated as the launching date has neared, said Tom Riley, a senior analyst at the Statistical Assessment Service in Washington, a nonprofit research organization that looks at science statistics.

"It started off as a seemingly possible threat to an area of Florida and has now gone to possible death of all humans on the planet," Riley said. "They're using this line of reason to get people activated."