Acceptance Of Nuclear Power Research Articles

Establishing an objective system for the assessment of public acceptance of nuclear power in China

This paper proposes a way of quantifying the public acceptance of nuclear power. Based on initial qualitative analysis, sampling surveys and statistical theory, an assessment system (including assessment performances, weighing coefficients and an assessment model) is established to quantify the status of public acceptance of nuclear power in China. Using this system, quantitative indicators are derived, their trends over 5 years are described, the main factors influencing the public acceptance of nuclear power in China are derived and, accordingly, necessary improvements are suggested. Utilizing this system over the longer term could provide useful reference data for decision makers.

Actinide Selective Systems for Environmental Extraction and Sensing Applications

AbstractThe potential environmental and health concerns surrounding actinides and the use of nuclear fuels limits the acceptance of nuclear power by the public. This in turn, hinders the capability of this country to take advantage of nuclear power. Expanding our fundamental knowledge of actinide coordination chemistry will allow for the development of improved actinide sensors, new separations methods, or new means of radioactive waste remediation. We have designed and optimized a solution-phase parallel method for the synthesis of a library of symmetrical 2-quinoxalinol salens, Schiff-base type ligands with a 2-quinoxalinol incorporated into the salen backbone. This combines the rigid salen coordination framework with the quinoxaline properties that impart properties for use in colorimetric or fluorescent sensors. These have now been incorporated into organic soluble resins for metal extraction.

SOCIAL IMPLEMENTATION OF ONTOLOGY-BASED DOMAIN-ORIENTED INFORMATION RETRIEVAL

専門的知識は非専門家の問題解決や意思決定のためにも利用できるように共有されることが望ましい．しかし原子力と社会の問題に目を向けると，その専門的知識の共有不足が社会的に議論を深めるための障害になっていると考えられる．これは知識の共有の不全がもたらす問題の顕在化であるといえる．そこで本研究では原子力分野を対象として，専門的なWeb コンテンツを容易に検索できる分野特化型の情報検索技術を開発し，社会に実装した．この情報検索技術は対象とする専門分野に関するオントロジーを用意して活用するものである．この技術は専門的知識の流通支援のために幅広い応用が可能であると考えられる．

Regulatory low dose limits: from science to political correctness?

The setting of regulatory low dose limits has become a topic of central importance for further radiation uses because of its close relationship to: the public acceptance of nuclear power as a safe, inexpensive, reliable, ecologically beneficial, and climatically neutral source of electricity; the use of various highly beneficial medical, industrial and research applications; and the exploding costs for remediation and decommissioning of sites and facilities, waste management, storage and transport of radioactive materials, etc. Unfortunately, the initially quite reasonable ICRP Recommendations have degenerated over the decades into the applications of the LNT/Collective Dose dogma. With the accumulation of new radiobiological and epidemiological results during the last two decades, the scientific basis of LNT became increasingly questionable. At the same time, non-scientific political and ideological pressures on the limit-setting international and national authorities increased. In this paper, some trends leading to the low-dose recommendations in the ICRP 2005 draft, as well as likely problems in their implementation, are briefly discussed.

Evaluation of lifecycle CO 2 emissions from the Japanese electric power sector in the 21st century under various nuclear scenarios

The status and prospects of the development of Japanese nuclear power are controversial and uncertain. Many deem that nuclear power can play key roles in both supplying energy and abating CO 2 emissions; however, due to severe nuclear accidents, public acceptance of nuclear power in Japan has not been fully obtained. Moreover, deregulation and liberalization of the electricity market impose pressure on large Japanese electric power companies with regard to both the operation of nuclear power plants and the development of the nuclear fuel cycle. Long-term Japanese CO 2 reduction strategies up to 2100 are of environmental concern and are socially demanded under the circumstances described above. Taking these factors into account, we set the following two objectives for this study. One is to estimate lifecycle CO 2 (LCCO 2) emissions from Japanese nuclear power, and the other is to evaluate CO 2 emissions from the Japanese electric power sector in the 21st century by quantifying the relationship between LCCO 2 emissions and scenarios for the adoption of nuclear power. In the pursuit of the above objectives, we first create four scenarios of Japanese adoption of nuclear power, that range from nuclear power promotion to phase-out. Next, we formulate four scenarios describing the mix of the total electricity supply in Japan till the year 2100 corresponding to each of these nuclear power scenarios. CO 2 emissions from the electric power sector in Japan till the year 2100 are estimated by summing those generated by each respective electric power technology and LCCO 2 emission intensity. The LCCO 2 emission intensity of nuclear power for both light water reactors (LWR) and fast breeder reactors (FBR) includes the uranium fuel production chain, facility construction/operation/decommission, and spent fuel processing/disposal. From our investigations, we conclude that the promotion of nuclear power is clearly a strong option for reducing CO 2 emissions by the electric power sector. The introduction of FBR has the effect of further reducing CO 2 emissions in the nuclear power sector. Meeting energy demand and reducing CO 2 emissions while phasing out nuclear power appears challenging given its importance in the Japanese energy supply.

Development of the public attitude model toward nuclear power in Korea

This paper deals with the structure of public attitude towards nuclear power plants in Korea. Special emphasis is given to the issues of public acceptance in relation to perceived benefits, perceived risk, judged safety, and safety satisfaction. The national survey data of 1995 by the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety is analyzed with a latent class model and logistic regression. The latent class model is used to construct benefit and risk factors. With these factors and safety-related variables, a public attitude model is developed by logistic regression which enables the relationships between national or local acceptance of nuclear power and explanatory variables to be quantified. The results show that the attitude structure is somewhat different by gender. Subjectively perceived risk is found to be the most influential factor for local acceptance. The odds of local acceptance with the best risk perception is about 16 times the odds with the worst perception for males and about 7.7 times for females. From the results of this analysis, it is clear that subjective satisfaction with nuclear safety is a more important factor for explaining public acceptance rather than judgment of it. These important findings should be reflected in the public acceptance improvement strategy for the nuclear power program.

Technological Options for Power Generation

The demand for electricity is expected to double from 1990 to 2020. This will require 4000 GW of new capacity to be constructed worldwide, both as additions and replacements. Technical progress has made new conventional power plants more efficient and environment friendly than existing ones, and they can be built quicker and cheaper. Fossil fuels already form the basis for two thirds of all electricity and their importance will continue to grow, both as gasfired combined cycle and as coal-fired steam cycle. The technical choice depends on a wide array of considerations, including financial engineering. In liberalised electricity markets with global sourcing the emphasis is on minimum costs and cash-flow. Independent project developers currently fund 30% of all new generating capacity investments and the share is growing. The expanding role of fossil fuels runs counter to policies to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases. To reverse the trend would require strong support for renewables and acceptance of nuclear power.

Severe accident codes status and future development

New demands for acceptance of nuclear power require full deterministic evidence of nuclear power plants (NPP) safety. From this point of view, the role of precise deterministic analysis of NPP safety plays a very important role for both the existing and future generation of NPPs. Considering the current status of existing severe accident codes, one may conclude that their capabilities are quite limited and not sufficient to prove NPP safety. This conclusion is based on the experience of usage of these codes, analysis of models and experimental database supporting codes and used for their validation. At the same time, the modern level of development of computer techniques and numeric methods allows the use of equations based on first principles rather than correlation. The transition to physical modeling appears to be more effective in the cases of designing and validation of codes using both separate effect and integral tests, and allows predictive power of codes to be increased and the range of uncertainties to be reduced. Moreover, physical modeling allows critical points of models and codes to be understood, and permits the planning of integral tests to resolve severe accident and accident management issues.

Japanese strategy for mitigating global warming

Abstract This paper illustrates first what the government of Japan intends to do with a few official pledges on mitigating global warming, such as the action plan and the famous idea of New Earth 21 program, toward long term stabilization of CO2 concentration in the air. In practice, however, there are a number of factors which may disturb realization of the targets envisaged in these plans. Limitation to advancement of further energy conservation, not only in industrial sectors but also in other sectors where individual consumers play key roles, is certainly serious. Another crucial factor is the nuclear power. Recent accident at the experimental FBR, Monju, has influenced the public acceptance of nuclear power very seriously, and the government is now at the stage of re-designing the future scenario of nuclear power, taking into account both the opinions in favor of nuclear and those of anti-nuclear. Nevertheless most of energy experts believe that nuclear power is safe and also economical enough to be maintained for the intermediate future at least in Japan so that strong policy measures are to be introduced to improve public acceptance of nuclear power. The second part of this paper describes the future of so called “new energy” which the government of Japan is eager to develop and also the limits to development of these “new energy”. The third part is contributed to description of R&D of long term technological options and also difficulties in realizing these options. It is also worth noting that Japan, both government and industries, has much interest in CO2 removal from flue gas of power plants and its disposal.

The Role of Affect and Worldviews as Orienting Dispositions in the Perception and Acceptance of Nuclear Power1

Recent research in risk perception has examined the role of affect and worldviews as orienting dispositions that guide people's decisions about complex and risky topics such as nuclear energy. This study tests and supports the hypothesis that worldviews and affect‐laden imagery are highly predictive of perceptions of risk from nuclear power and support for that technology. Furthermore, affect and worldviews each contribute independently to the prediction of nuclear support. We find also that a person's affective imagery associated with nuclear power is systematically related to their worldviews. We conclude that affect and worldviews appear to play similar roles as orienting mechanisms, helping people navigate in a complex, uncertain, and sometimes dangerous world. The implication of this view for the practice of risk communication is briefly discussed.

Nuclear energy into the twenty-first century

The historical development of the civil nuclear power generation industry is examined in the light of the need to meet conflicting energy-supply and environmental pressures over recent decades. It is suggested that fission (thermal and fast) reactors will dominate the market up to the period 2010–2030, with fusion being relegated to the latter part of the twenty-first century. A number of issues affecting the use of nuclear electricity generation in Western Europe are considered, including its cost, industrial strategy needs, and the public acceptability of nuclear power. The contribution of nuclear power stations to achieving CO 2 targets aimed at relieving global warming is discussed in the context of alternative strategies for sustainable development, including renewable energy sources and energy-efficiency measures. Trends in the generation of nuclear electricity from fission reactors are finally considered in terms of the main geopolitical groupings that make up the world in the mid-1990s. Several recent, but somewhat conflicting, forecasts of the role of nuclear power in the fuel mix to about 2020 are reviewed. It is argued that the only major expansion in generating capacity will take place on the Asia-Pacific Rim and not in the developing countries generally. Nevertheless, the global nuclear industry overall will continue to be dominated by a small number of large nuclear electricity generating countries; principally the USA, France and Japan.

Problems in Public Acceptance of Nuclear Power in U.S.

Problems in Public Acceptance of Nuclear Power in U.S.

Advanced monitoring systems for the preventive maintenance of mechanical systems and components / Moderne Überwachungssysteme für zustandsorientierte und vorbeugende Instandhaltung von technischen Systemen und Komponenten.

Maintenance strategies can be assigned to one of three categories: failure maintenance, periodic maintenance or condition-oriented maintenance. The optimum maintenance scheme can be selected on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis. However, issues such as personal safety and public acceptance of nuclear power can hardly be expressed in figures. The implementation of preventive maintenance needs two preconditions : high-performance instrumentation in the form of stationary and mobile monitoring systems for the determination of the plant components' condition, and the provision of a tool which can handle both the organization of the work and the evaluation of the results obtained.

Journalism's failure on nuclear power information

By means of a questionnaire the public's decision-making as to the acceptability of nuclear power for generating electricity was assessed in the United States. The public was asked to give their opinion about (1) the radiation expectancy from nuclear power industry compared to the natural radiation, (2) the Three Mile Island accident, and (3) how the risks of nuclear power compare with other common risks (non-nuclear). The outcome was related to the values as obtained from probabilistic risk assessment. The public opinion obviously shows an overreaction due to its misinformation via the basic public channels; a responsibility of journalism.

Non-catastrophic release requirements for the next generation of nuclear power plants

In the light of the Chernobyl disaster more restrictive advanced safety criteria (ASC), originally developed for urban siting, may help to increase public acceptance of nuclear power. The basic idea is to limit the activity release resulting from beyond-design severe accidents in such a way that off-site counter (emergency)-measures do not need to be considered for the short-term and long-term protection of the public and the financial damage can be coped with easily by the society. Conservative dose calculation principles are proposed to demonstrate compliance. Severe accidents include all event sequences which dominate risk and need to be identified by PSA.

Nuclear Power and Public Opinion

OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency 1984 Paris: OECD 11 7 pp price £8 (paperback) ISBN 92 64 12608 2 A concise overview of the acceptance of nuclear power in OECD countries is the aim of this book. It contains reports from 17 individual countries, each giving a brief characterisation of the general energy situation and describing the history of nuclear energy, development of public attitudes and debates, and measures adopted to make nuclear energy more acceptable.

Public acceptance of nuclear power

Public acceptance of nuclear power

Strategies for high-level radioactive waste management: The U.S. experience

Technology exists or is under development for the safe, retrievable storage of spent fuel from commercial nuclear reactors and high-level waste from reprocessing that fuel, for many decades, and no insuperable scientific obstacles to permanent disposal of spent fuel or high-level waste in geologic repositories have been identified. However, there are significant institutional obstacles to developing such repositories: strong local opposition to siting and the requirement for a sustained commitment of money and skilled manpower over a period of decades. These create strong incentives to defer the political and economic costs of developing disposal facilities by using less expensive interim storage; yet continued deferral may affect the acceptability of nuclear power. Thus the principal strategic policy issue in high-level waste management is how rapidly to develop disposal facilities. Some countries plan decades of storage before choosing a repository site or a disposal technology, while the United States has enacted a law requiring operation of a geologic repository by 1998. This paper discusses waste management strategic issues and major provisions of the U.S. law, emphasizing those measures dealing with the institutional obstacles to developing geologic repositories.

Public acceptance of nuclear power

Public acceptance of nuclear power

The Valuation of Nuclear Power in The Post-Three Mile Island Era

On March 28, 1979, an event at the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant of the General Public Utilities Corporation placed the future of nuclear power in the United States in doubt. The transient that led to the partial melting of the cladding around the fuel rods was to create concern in the nuclear industry and in the public at large about the safety, costs, and acceptability of nuclear power. While the impressionistic evidence is that TMI has caused great problems for the industry, there is little systematic evidence that this is the case. What real damage did the accident do to the prospects for nuclear power in the United States? The potential damages to the nuclear industry were of several varieties. First the accident might have caused people to reevaluate the safety of nuclear reactors.