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1 – 10 of over 2000The recently established SCOPE‐RADTEST (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment‐Radioactivity from Nuclear Test Explosions) programme is examining releases of…
Abstract
The recently established SCOPE‐RADTEST (Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment‐Radioactivity from Nuclear Test Explosions) programme is examining releases of radioactivity due to nuclear detonations which have occurred at various test sites around the world, for peaceful and military purposes, taking into consideration both ecological and human effects. Presents the background to this programme, together with a summary of the proceedings of RADTEST’s North Atlantic Treaty Organization Advanced Research Workshop meetings held during 1994 in Vienna, Austria, and Barnaul, Russia, and of the 1995 meeting in Brussels/Liège, Belgium.
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The Reprocessing Engineering Division of British Nuclear Fuels undertakes the design of nuclear chemical plants for construction and subsequent operation at the Sellafield Works…
Abstract
The Reprocessing Engineering Division of British Nuclear Fuels undertakes the design of nuclear chemical plants for construction and subsequent operation at the Sellafield Works of the Reprocessing Operations Division. Plant construction cannot take place until it has been demonstrated that the chosen design will allow the plant to operate in an adequately safe manner, corresponding to an extremely low level of risk. Risk, or the cumulative frequency and consequences of all potential hazards, is evaluated by means of probabilistic risk assessments (PRA).
Päivi Tampere, Kaja Tampere and Vilma Luoma-Aho
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the authority communication and its relationship to citizens during a disaster. This analysis is crucial for organisations to help them…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the authority communication and its relationship to citizens during a disaster. This analysis is crucial for organisations to help them understand the different ways in which crises are perceived by citizens, and the reactions they may cause. The results will help authorities in planning their crisis communication.
Design/methodology/approach
Facebook comments written by authorities and citizens are studied and analysed in an exploratory case study related to the 2011 catastrophe in the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant via content analysis.
Findings
The analysis of Facebook comments revealed that authorities have to be prepared for communicating with citizens with diverging interests, who have different perceptions on a crisis and that relation is not the same with those different profiles of citizens.
Research limitations/implications
This case study only focusses on the Fukushima debate from the point of view of the authorities and citizens.
Practical implications
This study argues that it is crucial for both authorities and public relations practitioners to acknowledge that competing opinion holders are challenging each other and authority online, and that crisis communication should be planned accordingly.
Originality/value
The participant profiles can help organisations to clarify citizens’ crisis perceptions that can emerge in online discussions. Practitioners need to concentrate on determining how to get their voice heard so that there are perceived credible and legitimate actors.
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Iyad Mohammad Jadalhaq and Enas Mohammad Alqodsi
This study aims to illustrate the special liability regime applying to a nuclear operator for damage caused to individuals, property and natural resources, after the United Arab…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to illustrate the special liability regime applying to a nuclear operator for damage caused to individuals, property and natural resources, after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) implemented the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage of 1963 through Federal Law No. 4 of 2012. This paper contrasts this special regime with the default regime of civil liability set out in the UAE Civil Code. The comparison helps clarify the legal nature of nuclear operator liability, the extent of protection it affords to the parties injured in a nuclear incident, the conditions under which it obtains, as well as the different damage headings it allows.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper is a desk-based legal research.
Findings
The main novelties enshrined in the special liability regime for nuclear facility operators are the adoption of an objective approach (strict liability) and the introduction of exceptions different from those contemplated in the default regime spelled out in the UAE Civil Code, thereby affording greater protection to victims of nuclear leakages.
Originality/value
This paper is a first in-depth commentary of UAE Federal Law No. 4 of 2012 Concerning Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage. Considering the UAE’s dualistic approach to the implementation of international obligations, and the present lack of reliable alternative avenues towards compensation beyond private operator liability, the overview provided here will be of value to regional and international practitioners – including from neighbouring countries to the UAE (Oman, Qatar, Bahrain) – that are not currently signatories to any convention on nuclear liability.
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Liisa Sallinen, Inkeri Ruuska and Tuomas Ahola
The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding on stakeholder influence in large projects, using nuclear power plant projects and a governmental stakeholder that…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding on stakeholder influence in large projects, using nuclear power plant projects and a governmental stakeholder that influences them as the empirical example. The authors focus on examining the means used by the stakeholder to influence the projects.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper adopts the descriptive single case study approach, using data from 18 semi‐structured interviews. The authors interviewed experts at a governmental stakeholder organization, but in order to gain insight from outside the governmental stakeholder, they also interviewed two other organizations: an energy company, and the highest administrative ministry in the nuclear industry.
Findings
The governmental stakeholder bases its influence on regulations and laws. This paper points out the distinct means that are used by the governmental stakeholder to influence nuclear projects: means that restrain, and also means that enable and advance projects. Both types of means are used at the same time. Enabling means include, among others, allowing projects and firms to contribute to the very same regulations that control the projects.
Originality/value
Much of the earlier research emphasizes government influence as negative to projects, but this paper shows an example of a stakeholder whose influence also includes aspects that are beneficial for projects. The governmental stakeholder can also be understood as a stakeholder that combines two stakes: its own legal stake, and society's moral stake. In carrying society's stake in projects, the governmental stakeholder acts as an intermediary.
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Fayaz Ahmad Loan and Ufaira Yaseen Shah
The purpose of this study is to measure the quality of nuclear science and technology research using the scientometric indicators, like activity index, attractivity index and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to measure the quality of nuclear science and technology research using the scientometric indicators, like activity index, attractivity index and publication efficiency index.
Design/methodology/approach
The present scientometric study is based on the bibliographic data extracted from the core collection of the Web of Science database from 1989 to 2019. The data was collected using the advanced search feature, with a search string of 28 related terms. The bibliographic data for all the journal articles, excluding all other formats, was downloaded for statistical analysis.
Findings
The present study highlights the growth pattern and the research efforts devoted to the field of nuclear science and technology worldwide, as reflected through the Core Collection of the Web of Science database, for 31 years from 1989 to 2019. The USA has emerged as the topmost producer, with a total share of almost 29% with respect to the world literature followed by Japan, Germany, France and UK. However, the relative citation impact has been the highest for Netherlands followed by the USA, Germany, France and UK, respectively. The study depicted that the activity index, also called as the relative performance indicator, has been the highest for the USA, whereas the attractivity index has been the highest for China, indicating its dominance in attracting citations to its publications in the field of nuclear science and technology. The publication efficiency index, the value has been the maximum for Iran, for which the value has been greater than 1 (1.618). The measure suggests that Iran’s research effectiveness in the field of nuclear science and technology has been more than the research effort devoted to the field.
Research limitations/implications
The paper was based on the data retrieved from a single database, and the results may vary across other databases. Hence, caution should be taken while generalizing the findings.
Originality/value
Several scientometric studies have taken place in the field of nuclear science and technology, particularly in its allied branches, but none of the studies has focused on evaluating the research efforts carried out by the countries in terms of activity index, attractivity index and publication efficiency index, and the present study is an attempt to fill the gap.
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The chapter tries to understand how nuclear tests and the radiation fallouts in their aftermath can lead to cancer. It seeks to explore how our diseased ecological systems have…
Abstract
Purpose of the Research Paper
The chapter tries to understand how nuclear tests and the radiation fallouts in their aftermath can lead to cancer. It seeks to explore how our diseased ecological systems have resulted in silencing the birdsong and the spreading of cancer in the Anthropocene with reference to Terry Tempest Williams' (An environmentalist and Utah naturalist) two memoirs – “‘Refuge: An Unnatural History of Family and Place” and “When Women Were Birds: Fifty-Four Variations on Voice.” It would also try to factor in connections between climate change, pandemics like the COVID-19, and the onslaught of other terminal illnesses like cancer, all a result of mankind's anthropocentric hubris and domination of nature.
Methodology/Approach
Mine would be a qualitative approach wherein I will refer to the original two texts mentioned for primary material and other sources for secondary references and analyze them from an ecofeminist perspective.
Findings and Conclusion
We need to establish the health of the Environment through reduced usage of nuclear weapons and by developing a language and an environmental praxis that doesn't separate the subject and the object and only then we can usher in biological egalitarianism, and restore the song of the whistling thrush again. We also need to revere our Mother Earth and see to it that she maintains her ecological balance through homeostasis.
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During the design of the Atlas I.C.B.M. it was considered necessary to conduct full‐scale combined structural loading and aerodynamic heating tests for the purpose of proving the…
Abstract
During the design of the Atlas I.C.B.M. it was considered necessary to conduct full‐scale combined structural loading and aerodynamic heating tests for the purpose of proving the ability of the nose adaptor and thrust barrel to withstand the combined effects of load and temperature. The following items were required to perform the tests: heating elements to radiate 450 sq. ft. of specimen area at a maximum rate of 10,000 B.T.U/sq. ft./hr., 1,500 KVA at 44 volts for six mins., controller, three variable pressure regulators for programming 3,000 lb./sq. in. hydraulic pressure to the loading cylinders, six‐channel programmer for varying heating and loading rates, a method for relating the capabilities of the equipment to the desired heat and load curves. Descriptions arc given of the heating equipment, heat controller, load controller, programmer, preliminary heat tests, preliminary load tests and test programmes as used by the Systems Test Laboratory of Convair‐Astronautics. As experience was gained by testing the need for preliminary tests was greatly reduced. The method described continues to be a valuable tool for performing full‐scale missile structural tests.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk arising from technological devices, such as closed circuit television (CCTV) and nuclear power plants and the consequent effect on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the risk arising from technological devices, such as closed circuit television (CCTV) and nuclear power plants and the consequent effect on the rights to privacy and security of individuals.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper presents critical and conceptual analyses of CCTV, nuclear power plants and the rights of individuals. It also analyses how communitarianism and liberal individualism would respond to right‐infringements and risk‐imposition. It draws on W.D. Ross's prima facie and actual duties to explain the pre‐eminence of duty when certain duties conflict in a bid to improve technology.
Findings
The paper discovers the importance of rights to individuals, particularly the rights to privacy and security. It shows that, in some situations, government's duty to respect the right to the privacy of individuals conflicts with the duty to provide public goods, such as CCTV. The paper, therefore, stresses that one duty has greater moral force than the other. In essence, the more incumbent duty can be employed by government in justifying right‐infringement and risk‐imposition, though this does not disvalue the rights of individuals.
Originality/value
The paper offers insight into ways of addressing questions such as: when is it morally acceptable or justifiable to expose others to risk? When is infringement on people's rights permissible? Also, the paper is relevant to those in the areas of ethics and technology because it offers an ethical analysis of risk‐imposition and right‐infringement by examining how ethical theories, such as communitarianism and liberal individualism, would assess risks resulting from CCTV and nuclear energy. It argues that consent is not enough to justify risk‐imposition and right‐infringement. It concludes by drawing on W.D. Ross's prima facie and actual duties as a means of justifying risk‐imposition and right‐infringement by government.
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From earliest times the land and all it produced to feed and sustain those who dwelt on it was mankind's greatest asset. From the Biblical “land of milk and honey”, down through…
Abstract
From earliest times the land and all it produced to feed and sustain those who dwelt on it was mankind's greatest asset. From the Biblical “land of milk and honey”, down through history to the “country of farmers” visualised by the American colonists when they severed the links with the mother country, those who had all their needs met by the land were blessed — they still are! The inevitable change brought about by the fast‐growing populations caused them to turn to industry; Britain introduced the “machine age” to the world; the USA the concept of mass production — and the troubles and problems of man increased to the present chaos of to‐day. There remained areas which depended on an agri‐economy — the granary countries, as the vast open spaces of pre‐War Russia; now the great plains of North America, to supply grain for the bread of the peoples of the dense industrial conurbations, which no longer produced anything like enough to feed themselves.