Nuclear Power: Economic, Safety, Health, and Environmental Issues of Near-Term Technologies

2009/10/15 by M. V. Ramana · 87 citations
Social Sciences · Engineering · Decision Sciences · #Risk Perception and Management #Nuclear and radioactivity studies #Risk and Safety Analysis #Nuclear power #Constraint (computer-aided design) #Term (time) #Capital cost #Natural resource economics #Business #Capital (architecture) #Environmental economics #Risk analysis (engineering) #Environmental planning #Economics #Environmental science #Engineering #Macroeconomics

paper · pdf · doi:10.1146/annurev.environ.033108.092057

published in Annual Review of Environment and Resources 34(1), 127-152 (Annual Reviews)

openalex publication_date 2009/10/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/02

Abstract

Nuclear power is confronted with a number of challenges in the near term. One major constraint is the economics of nuclear power, driven by both the high capital costs and financial uncertainties. The second is concern about catastrophic accidents; despite the development of newer reactor designs, the possibility of such an accident has not been completely eliminated. A third is to find a way of disposing nuclear waste that is technically feasible and politically acceptable to the public.

Citations

• The Negotiated Order of Organizational Reliability
• Generation-IV nuclear power: A review of the state of the science
• Nuclear Power Reactors: A Study in Technological Lock-in
• Estimates of the cancer burden in Europe from radioactive fallout from the Chernobyl accident
• Meta-analysis of standardized incidence and mortality rates of childhood leukaemia in proximity to nuclear facilities
• Design and development of the AHWR—the Indian thorium fuelled innovative nuclear reactor
• Review of solutions to global warming, air pollution, and energy security
• Special Report: Counting the dead
• Health Risks from Exposure to Low Levels of Ionizing Radiation

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