Subject(s)
Environmental Policy/trends , Fukushima Nuclear Accident , Nuclear Energy/statistics & numerical data , Nuclear Power Plants/standards , Nuclear Power Plants/trends , Public Opinion , Safety , Humans , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Power Plants/supply & distribution , Risk Assessment , Time FactorsABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is growing concern about radiation exposure from nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), particularly among younger patients who are more prone to develop untoward effects of ionizing radiation, and hence US and European professional society guidelines recommend age as a consideration in weighing radiation risk from MPI. We aimed to determine how patient radiation doses from MPI vary across age groups in a large contemporary international cohort. METHODS: Data were collected as part of a global cross-sectional study of centers performing MPI coordinated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Sites provided information on each MPI study completed during a single week in March-April 2013. We compared across age groups laboratory adherence to pre-specified radiation-related best practices, radiation effective dose (ED; a whole-body measure reflecting the amount of radiation to each organ and its relative sensitivity to radiation's deleterious effects), and the proportion of patients with EDâ¯≤â¯9â¯mSv, a target level specified in guidelines. RESULTS: Among 7911 patients undergoing MPI in 308 laboratories in 65 countries, mean ED was 10.0⯱â¯4.5â¯mSv with slightly higher exposure among younger age groups (trend p valueâ¯<â¯0.001). There was no difference in the proportion of patients with EDâ¯≤â¯9â¯mSv across age groups, or in adherence to best practices based on the median age of patients in a laboratory. CONCLUSIONS: In contemporary nuclear cardiology practice, the age of the patient appears not to impact protocol selection and radiation dose, contrary to professional society guidelines.
Subject(s)
Cardiology/standards , Myocardial Perfusion Imaging/standards , Nuclear Energy , Practice Guidelines as Topic/standards , Radiation Dosage , Radiation Exposure/standards , Age Factors , Aged , Cardiology/methods , Cohort Studies , Cross-Sectional Studies , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Myocardial Perfusion Imaging/methods , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Positron-Emission Tomography , Radiation Exposure/prevention & control , Retrospective Studies , Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-PhotonABSTRACT
The decarbonization of the global economy is an urgent concern. As a potential solution, it can be important to understand the efficiency of nuclear energy policies. For this purpose, the paper analyzes whether there is a unit root in nuclear energy consumption in 26 countries and it uses the unit root tests with two endogenous (unknown) structural breaks. The paper finds that nuclear energy consumption is stationary around a level and the time trend in 25 of 26 countries and nuclear energy consumption contains a unit root only in France. The paper also discusses the potential implications of the findings.
Subject(s)
Efficiency, Organizational/statistics & numerical data , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Energy/statistics & numerical data , Public Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Carbon Dioxide/analysis , Conservation of Energy Resources/statistics & numerical data , Developed Countries , Developing Countries , Economic Development , Efficiency, Organizational/legislation & jurisprudence , Efficiency, Organizational/trends , Humans , Models, Theoretical , Public Policy/trendsSubject(s)
Advisory Committees/legislation & jurisprudence , Advisory Committees/organization & administration , European Union/organization & administration , Federal Government , International Cooperation/legislation & jurisprudence , Advisory Committees/trends , Animals , Drug Industry/economics , Drug Industry/organization & administration , Environmental Policy/legislation & jurisprudence , Government Regulation , Humans , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Policy Making , United Kingdom , Veterinary Medicine/organization & administrationSubject(s)
Employment/trends , Federal Government , Global Warming/legislation & jurisprudence , Global Warming/prevention & control , International Cooperation , Natural Gas/economics , Politics , Carbon Dioxide/analysis , Carbon Dioxide/isolation & purification , Carbon Sequestration , Employment/economics , Global Warming/economics , Natural Gas/supply & distribution , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Power Plants/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesSubject(s)
Congresses as Topic , Conservation of Energy Resources/legislation & jurisprudence , Conservation of Energy Resources/trends , Global Warming/prevention & control , Goals , International Cooperation/legislation & jurisprudence , Conservation of Energy Resources/economics , Conservation of Energy Resources/statistics & numerical data , Global Warming/economics , Global Warming/legislation & jurisprudence , Investments/economics , Investments/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Energy/economics , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Energy/statistics & numerical data , Paris , Private Sector/economics , Public-Private Sector Partnerships/economics , Public-Private Sector Partnerships/trends , Renewable Energy/economics , Renewable Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Renewable Energy/statistics & numerical data , TemperatureSubject(s)
Biological Science Disciplines/history , Biomedical Research/history , Nuclear Medicine , Physics/history , Advisory Committees/history , Advisory Committees/organization & administration , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Humans , Nuclear Energy/history , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Medicine/history , Nuclear Medicine/organization & administration , Nuclear Medicine/standards , RadiationABSTRACT
For more than a quarter century, public discourse has pushed the nuclear-power industry in the direction of heavier regulation and greater scrutiny, effectively halting construction of new reactors. By focusing on contemporary fear of significant accidents, such discourse begs the question of what the nation's court system would actually do should a major nuclear incident cause radiation-induced cancers. Congress's attempt to answer that question is the Price-Anderson Act, a broad statute addressing claims by the victims of a major nuclear accident. Lower courts interpreting the Act have repeatedly encountered a major stumbling block: it declares that judges must apply the antediluvian preponderance-of-the-evidence logic of state tort law, even though radiation science insists that the causes of radiation-induced cancers are more complex. After a major nuclear accident, the Act's paradoxically outdated rules for adjudicating "causation" would make post-incident compensation unworkable. This Note urges that nuclear-power-plant liability should not turn on eighteenth-century tort law. Drawing on modern scientific conclusions regarding the invariably "statistical" nature of cancer, this Note suggests a unitary federal standard for the Price-Anderson Act--that a defendant be deemed to have "caused" a plaintiff's injury in direct proportion to the increased risk of harm the defendant has imposed. This "proportional liability" rule would not only fairly evaluate the costs borne by injured plaintiffs and protect a reawakening nuclear industry from the prospect of bank-breaking litigation, but would prove workable with only minor changes to the Price-Anderson Act's standards of "injury" and "fault."
Subject(s)
Causality , Compensation and Redress/legislation & jurisprudence , Facility Regulation and Control/legislation & jurisprudence , Industry , Liability, Legal , Neoplasms, Radiation-Induced/epidemiology , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Power Plants/legislation & jurisprudence , Radiation Injuries/etiology , Government Regulation , Hazardous Substances , Humans , Industry/legislation & jurisprudence , Radiation Injuries/prevention & control , Radioactive Hazard Release/legislation & jurisprudence , United StatesABSTRACT
Korean nuclear energy regulatory policies started to change from earlier exclusively technocratic policies into open dialogues after several anti-nuclear protests in the 1990s. However, technocratic policies still coexist with the new regulatory orientation towards openness, participation and institutional accountability. This paper analyzes Korean nuclear regulatory policies since approximately 2005 as a blend of old and new governance. The aim of the paper is not to decide whether new nuclear governance is deliberative or not by completely reviewing Korean nuclear policies after the 2000s. Instead, it provides an empirical account of how seemingly more participatory processes in decision-making entail new problems while they work with and reproduce social assumptions of different groups of the public.
Subject(s)
Community Participation , Decision Making , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Public Policy/trends , Fukushima Nuclear Accident , Humans , Japan , Politics , Republic of KoreaABSTRACT
This article analyses media representations of the strengthening technological energy policy orientation in the UK and Finland. Drawing from over 1200 newspaper articles from 1991 to 2006, it scrutinises how energy policy in general and energy technologies in particular have been discussed by the media in these two countries, and how the media representations have changed over time. The results point to the importance of national political, economic and cultural features in shaping media discussions. At the same time, international political events and ideas of technology-driven economic growth have transformed media perceptions of energy technologies. While the British media have been rather critical towards national policies throughout the period of analysis, the Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat has supported successive national governments. In both countries, energy technologies have increasingly become linked to global societal and political questions.
Subject(s)
Information Dissemination/history , Information Dissemination/methods , Newspapers as Topic/trends , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Politics , Public Policy/trends , Technology , Finland , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , United KingdomABSTRACT
Before 1986, the development of tissue banking in China has been slow and relatively uncoordinated. Under the support of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Tissue Banking in China experienced rapid development. In this period, China Institute for Radiation Protection tissue bank mastered systematic and modern tissue banking technique by IAEA training course and gradually developed the first regional tissue bank (Shanxi Provincial Tissue Bank, SPTB) to provide tissue allograft. Benefit from training course, SPTB promoted the development of tissue transplantation by ways of training, brochure, advertisement and meeting. Tissue allograft transplantation acquired recognition from clinic and supervision and administration from government. Quality system gradually is developing and perfecting. Tissue allograft transplantation and tissue bank are developing rapidly and healthy.
Subject(s)
International Agencies/organization & administration , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Tissue Banks/legislation & jurisprudence , Tissue and Organ Harvesting/legislation & jurisprudence , China , Humans , International Agencies/legislation & jurisprudence , Sterilization/legislation & jurisprudence , Tissue Banks/organization & administration , Transplantation, Homologous/legislation & jurisprudenceSubject(s)
Government Regulation , Nuclear Energy/statistics & numerical data , Nuclear Power Plants/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Power Plants/statistics & numerical data , Policy Making , Safety/legislation & jurisprudence , Safety/standards , Carbon Footprint , China , Conflict of Interest , Fukushima Nuclear Accident , Humans , Japan , Nuclear Energy/ethics , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Power Plants/instrumentationABSTRACT
In accordance with contemporary legislation, the article covers materials on specification and approbation of concept model for psychophysiologic examination in medical establishments during medical examination of workers engaged into production with raidation and nuclear danger. The authors defined methodology, examination methods and designed an order of psychophysiologic examination. The psychophysiologic examination and purpose-oriented rehabilitation appeared efficient.
Subject(s)
General Adaptation Syndrome , Mental Health/legislation & jurisprudence , Occupational Diseases , Occupational Exposure , Radioactive Hazard Release , Stress, Physiological/radiation effects , General Adaptation Syndrome/diagnosis , General Adaptation Syndrome/etiology , General Adaptation Syndrome/prevention & control , Humans , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Reactors/legislation & jurisprudence , Occupational Diseases/diagnosis , Occupational Diseases/etiology , Occupational Diseases/prevention & control , Occupational Exposure/adverse effects , Occupational Exposure/legislation & jurisprudence , Occupational Exposure/prevention & control , Preventive Health Services/legislation & jurisprudence , Preventive Health Services/methods , Radiation Protection/legislation & jurisprudence , Radiation Protection/methods , Radiation Protection/standards , Radioactive Hazard Release/legislation & jurisprudence , Radioactive Hazard Release/prevention & control , Radioactive Hazard Release/psychology , Russia , Work Capacity EvaluationABSTRACT
The history of nuclear regulation is briefly reviewed to underscore the early recognition that independence of the regulator was essential in achieving and maintaining public credibility. The current licensing process is reviewed along with the status of applications. Challenges faced by both the NRC and the industry are reviewed, such as new construction techniques involving modular construction, digital controls replacing analog circuitry, globalization of the entire supply chain, and increased security requirements. The vital area of safety culture is discussed in some detail, and its importance is emphasized.
Subject(s)
Government Regulation , Nuclear Energy/legislation & jurisprudence , Safety , Security Measures , United States Government Agencies , Government Regulation/history , History, 20th Century , History, 21st Century , Licensure , Nuclear Energy/history , Nuclear Reactors/legislation & jurisprudence , Nuclear Reactors/standards , Risk Assessment , United States , United States Government Agencies/historyABSTRACT
The safety and environmental impacts of new technology and fuel cycle approaches being considered in current U.S. nuclear research programs are contrasted to conventional technology options in this paper. Two advanced reactor technologies, the sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) and the very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR), are being developed. In general, the new reactor technologies exploit inherent features for enhanced safety performance. A key distinction of advanced fuel cycles is spent fuel recycle facilities and new waste forms. In this paper, the performance of existing fuel cycle facilities and applicable regulatory limits are reviewed. Technology options to improve recycle efficiency, restrict emissions, and/or improve safety are identified. For a closed fuel cycle, potential benefits in waste management are significant, and key waste form technology alternatives are described.