Aconceptualapproachtotheestimationofsocietalwillingness-to-payfornuclearsafetyprogramsOriginalResearchArticle

Thedesign,refurbishmentandfuturedecommissioningofnuclearreactorsarecruciallyconcernedwithreducingtheriskofradiationexposurethatcanresultinadversehealtheffectsandpotentiallossoflife.Toaddressthisconcern,largefinancialinvestmentshavebeenmadetoensuresafetyofoperatingnuclearpowerplantsworldwide.Theefficacyoftheexpendituresincurredtoprovidesafetymustbejudgedagainstthesafetybenefittobegainedfromsuchinvestments.Wehavedevelopedanapproachthatprovidesadefendablebasisformakingthatjudgement. Ifthecostsofriskreductionaredisproportionatetothesafetybenefitsderived,thentheexpendituresarenotoptimal;inessencethesocietalresourcesarebeingdivertedawayfromothercriticalareassuchashealthcare,educationandsocialservicesthatalsoenhancethequalityoflife.Thus,theallocationofsociety’sresourcesdevotedtonuclearsafetymustbecontinuallyappraisedinlightofcompetingneeds,becausethereisalimitontheresourcesthatanysocietycandevotetoextendlife. Thepurposeofthepaperistopresentasimpleandmethodicalapproachtoassessingthebenefitsofnuclearsafetyprogramsandregulations.ThepaperpresentstheLife-QualityIndex(LQI)asatoolfortheassessmentofriskreductioninitiativesthatwouldsupportthepublicinterestandenhancebothsafetyandthequalityoflife.TheLQIisformulatedasautilityfunctionconsistentwiththeprinciplesofrationaldecisionanalysis.TheLQIisappliedtoquantifythesocietalwillingness-to-pay(SWTP)forsafetymeasuresenactedtoreduceoftheriskofpotentialexposurestoionisingradiation.Theproposedapproachprovidesessentialsupporttohelpimprovethecost–benefitanalysisofengineeringsafetyprogramsandsafetyregulations.