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2.
Account Res ; 27(2): 57-79, 2020 02.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-31905292

ABSTRACT

"Big science" has prompted scientific collaboration, ultimately leading to multidisciplinary, co-operative science. This has paved the way for organizational "champions", leading experts with the ability of driving organizational change. This study investigates the involvement of how "champions" contributed to the rapid failures of the 1980s case of the cold fusion initiative NCFI in Utah, and the 2000s case of BBMRI.se, the Swedish node of a biobank harmonization initiative, and how these two examples would become "failed scientific megaprojects". This descriptive comparative case study has utilized available literature and documents covering the two megaprojects, with some supplemental interviews. The study shows that "champions" indeed enable research but simultaneously also risk becoming the downfall of the collaborative endeavors that have been set up. Moreover, this study has been able to uncover and analyze some of the most common types of organizational failure found in the two failed scientific megaprojects investigated. The common lesson inferred from both cases is that the unquestionable trust placed into some of the "champions" led to a lack of procedural transparency and professional candidness, ultimately leading to a loss of trust from their respective funding bodies.


Subject(s)
Biological Specimen Banks/organization & administration , Interdisciplinary Communication , Leadership , Nuclear Power Plants/organization & administration , Research/organization & administration , Biological Specimen Banks/economics , Biological Specimen Banks/standards , Cooperative Behavior , Humans , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Nuclear Power Plants/standards , Organizational Case Studies , Organizational Innovation
3.
Sci Eng Ethics ; 24(6): 1801-1807, 2018 12.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29067625

ABSTRACT

Despite the size and thanks to the rich brown coal reserves, the Czech Republic is one of the leading energy producers in Europe, and the 7th biggest exporter of electricity in the world. However, following the climate change mitigation, the novel energy policy that enhances the reduction of coal mining is about to be implemented. A preliminary material flow analysis of the Czech energy sector was carried out. The data obtained confirmed that this government act would result in a dramatic reduction of revenues from electricity sales. Conversely, increased costs would be necessary in order to modernize nuclear power plants and promote the production of renewable energy. In addition, the economic analysis revealed that the act might be prejudicial to economic relations in Central and Western-European countries as some of them are significantly dependent on the electricity imported from the Czech Republic. Disputes between engineers and politicians were highlighted. The aforementioned interrelations were subsequently analyzed and a conclusion was made stating that global interests should have the highest moral priority.


Subject(s)
Coal , Conservation of Energy Resources , Electricity , Engineering , Power Plants , Public Policy , Climate Change , Conservation of Energy Resources/economics , Costs and Cost Analysis , Czech Republic , Engineering/economics , Engineering/ethics , Europe , Government , Humans , Income , Morals , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Nuclear Power Plants/ethics , Politics , Power Plants/economics , Power Plants/ethics , Public Policy/economics
4.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry ; 164(4): 519-22, 2015 Jun.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25979740

ABSTRACT

Costs related to the decommissioning of nuclear power plants create a significant financial burden for nuclear power plant operators. This article discusses the various methodologies employed by selected European countries for financing of the liabilities related to the nuclear power plant decommissioning. The article also presents methodology of allocation of future decommissioning costs to the running costs of nuclear power plant in the form of fee imposed on each megawatt hour generated. The application of the methodology is presented in the form of a case study on a new nuclear power plant with installed capacity 1000 MW.


Subject(s)
Environmental Restoration and Remediation/economics , Models, Economic , Nuclear Energy/economics , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Radioactive Waste/economics , Refuse Disposal/economics , Cost Allocation , Costs and Cost Analysis , Europe , Financing, Organized , Radiation Exposure , Radiation Monitoring/economics , Radiation Protection/economics , Radioisotopes/analysis , Time Factors , Waste Disposal Facilities/economics
6.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A ; 109(42): 16805-10, 2012 Oct 16.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-23027963

ABSTRACT

The events of March 2011 at the nuclear power complex in Fukushima, Japan, raised questions about the safe operation of nuclear power plants, with early retirement of existing nuclear power plants being debated in the policy arena and considered by regulators. Also, the future of building new nuclear power plants is highly uncertain. Should nuclear power policies become more restrictive, one potential option for climate change mitigation will be less available. However, a systematic analysis of nuclear power policies, including early retirement, has been missing in the climate change mitigation literature. We apply an energy economy model framework to derive scenarios and analyze the interactions and tradeoffs between these two policy fields. Our results indicate that early retirement of nuclear power plants leads to discounted cumulative global GDP losses of 0.07% by 2020. If, in addition, new nuclear investments are excluded, total losses will double. The effect of climate policies imposed by an intertemporal carbon budget on incremental costs of policies restricting nuclear power use is small. However, climate policies have much larger impacts than policies restricting the use of nuclear power. The carbon budget leads to cumulative discounted near term reductions of global GDP of 0.64% until 2020. Intertemporal flexibility of the carbon budget approach enables higher near-term emissions as a result of increased power generation from natural gas to fill the emerging gap in electricity supply, while still remaining within the overall carbon budget. Demand reductions and efficiency improvements are the second major response strategy.


Subject(s)
Climate Change/economics , Models, Economic , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Gross Domestic Product , Nuclear Power Plants/standards , Public Policy
8.
Radiat Prot Dosimetry ; 150(4): 516-9, 2012 Jul.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-22147927

ABSTRACT

The monetary value of the man-mSv for operators of Korean nuclear power plants (NPPs) was calculated using a radiation aversion factor based on a survey of NPP workers. Initially, the life expectancy in the population is 79.4 y, the average age of cancer occurrence is 60 y, the average annual wage for an electric worker is 56 000 $ y(-1) and the nominal risk coefficient induced by radiation is 4.2E(-5) mSv were used to evaluate the basic monetary value (α(base)) resulting in 45.6 $ mSv(-1). To investigate the degree of radiation aversion, the subject of the investigation was selected as the working radiation workers in 10 NPPs in Korea (Kori 1-2, Yeonggwang 1-3, Ulchin 1-3 and Wolseong 1-2). In August 2010, with the cooperation of KHNP and partner companies, a total of 2500 survey questionnaires to 10 NPPs (or 250 surveys to each NPP) were distributed to currently employed radiation workers. From these, 2157 responses were obtained between August and October 2010. The assessed radiation aversion factor and the monetary value of the man-mSv from the calculated radiation aversion factor were 1.26 and ∼50 $ in the 0-1 mSv range, 1.38 and ∼200 $ in the 1-5 mSv range, 1.52 and ∼1000 $ in the 5-10 mSv range, 1.65 and ∼4000 $ in the 10-20 mSv range and 1.74 and ∼8500 $ >20 mSv.


Subject(s)
Models, Econometric , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Occupational Exposure/economics , Occupational Exposure/prevention & control , Radiation Injuries/economics , Radiation Injuries/prevention & control , Radiation Protection/economics , Humans , Middle Aged , Radiation Protection/statistics & numerical data , Republic of Korea/epidemiology
13.
Sci Eng Ethics ; 17(1): 75-107, 2011 Mar.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-19898994

ABSTRACT

Merck suppressed data on harmful effects of its drug Vioxx, and Guidant suppressed data on electrical flaws in one of its heart-defibrillator models. Both cases reveal how financial conflicts of interest can skew biomedical research. Such conflicts also occur in electric-utility-related research. Attempting to show that increased atomic energy can help address climate change, some industry advocates claim nuclear power is an inexpensive way to generate low-carbon electricity. Surveying 30 recent nuclear analyses, this paper shows that industry-funded studies appear to fall into conflicts of interest and to illegitimately trim cost data in several main ways. They exclude costs of full-liability insurance, underestimate interest rates and construction times by using "overnight" costs, and overestimate load factors and reactor lifetimes. If these trimmed costs are included, nuclear-generated electricity can be shown roughly 6 times more expensive than most studies claim. After answering four objections, the paper concludes that, although there may be reasons to use reactors to address climate change, economics does not appear to be one of them.


Subject(s)
Climate Change/economics , Conflict of Interest/economics , Ethics, Business , Ethics, Research , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Scientific Misconduct
16.
Health Phys ; 95(6): 734-43, 2008 Dec.
Article in English | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-19001900

ABSTRACT

Commercial nuclear power plants release gaseous and liquid radiological effluents into the environment as by-products of electrical generation. In the U.S. these releases are monitored by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (U.S. NRC) and Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). Traditionally these releases have always been well below the regulatory limits. However, the tracking and analysis of nuclear power radiological effluents was stopped in 1994 by several government agencies. The purpose of this study was to compile the entire U.S. industry effluent data, identify trends, and calculate average population dose commitments since that time. Data were taken from radioactive material release reports submitted by each nuclear power plant. Industry trends were identified using the Mann-Kendall non-parametric test. Total collective effective and population doses were estimated using UNSCEAR and U.S. NRC methodologies. Overall, industry releases have been level over the study time period. Public doses continue to be well below 1% of the regulatory limits.


Subject(s)
Environmental Exposure/statistics & numerical data , Nuclear Power Plants , Radiation Dosage , Radioactive Waste/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Nuclear Power Plants/economics , Nuclear Power Plants/statistics & numerical data , Radioactive Hazard Release/legislation & jurisprudence , Radioactive Hazard Release/statistics & numerical data , Radioactive Waste/legislation & jurisprudence , United States
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