In an effort to come to terms with the new nuclear age, the legislature passed a comprehensive act "relating to nuclear energy" on
April 1, 1958. The legislature recognized the need "to encourage widespread participation in the development and utilization of atomic
energy for peaceful purposes to the maximum extent consistent with the common defense and security and with the health and safety of
the public." The act stipulated that ten state departments, including the State Department of Health, the Railroad Commission, and
the Department of Conservation, should undertake "continuing studies as to the need for changes in the laws and regulations" which
would be required by the presence of "special nuclear materials and byproduct material" within the state.
The act created the Division of Nuclear Information within the Department of Economic Development which would serve as "the principal
operational agency of the Commonwealth in promoting peaceful uses of atomic energy consistent with the health, safety, and welfare of
the Commonwealth." The act also created an Advisory Committee on Nuclear Energy to advise the governor "with respect to atomic energy
developments, industrial or otherwise, within the Commonwealth." The committee would consist of up to seventeen members chosen by the
governor. The director of the Division of Nuclear Information would serve as the ex-officio executive secretary of this advisory committee.
Safety-equipment display and demonstration of gas masks at Union-Carbide plant; known as the Union-Carbide Nuclear Plant, ca. 1955. Ohio River Portrait Collection, contributed by David M. Dodson, Kentucky Historical Society Collections.
