The Inventory of Nuclear Liabilities: A Mission of Public Interest

Author(s):  
Christian Cosemans ◽  
Jacques Cantarella ◽  
Gerda Bal

The safe management of a country’s radioactive substances in both the short and the long term implies a cost to its present society and necessitates financial resources to cover these costs. Once they are needed, these financial resources may prove to be insufficient or even completely lacking, leading to a nuclear liability. By virtue of article 9 of the Belgian law of 12th December 1997, the Belgian Government wishes to avoid the occurrence of such nuclear liabilities. This law charges ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials with the mission to draw up a register of the localisation and the state of all nuclear sites and all sites containing radioactive substances, to estimate the costs of their decommissioning and remediation, to evaluate the existence and adequacy of the provisions for financing these future or current operations and to update the resulting inventory of nuclear liabilities on a five-yearly basis. This paper outlines the methodology put in place by ONDRAF/NIRAS to accomplish this assignment and highlights some of the results of this exercise. It than focuses on the main recommendations ONDRAF/NIRAS made to the Belgian Government on the field of avoiding potential nuclear liabilities.

Author(s):  
Jacques Cantarella ◽  
Brigitte Roger

The safe management of a country’s radioactive substances in both the short and the long term implies a cost to its present society and necessitates financial resources to cover these costs. Once they are needed, these financial resources may prove to be insufficient or even completely lacking, leading to a nuclear liability. By virtue of article 9 of the Belgian law of 12th December 1997, the Belgian Government wishes to avoid the occurrence of such nuclear liabilities. This law charges ONDRAF/NIRAS, the Belgian Agency for Radioactive Waste and Enriched Fissile Materials with the mission to draw up a register of the localisation and the state of all nuclear sites and all sites containing radioactive substances, to estimate the costs of their decommissioning and remediation, to evaluate the existence and adequacy of the provisions for financing these future or current operations and to update the resulting inventory of nuclear liabilities on a five-yearly basis. This paper outlines the methodology put in place by ONDRAF/NIRAS to accomplish this assignment and highlights some of the results of this third inventory. It then focuses on the main recommendations ONDRAF/NIRAS made to the Belgian Government on the field of avoiding potential nuclear liabilities.


1999 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth Good

The rise of wealth and power within the cattle-owning economy of Botswana has been accompanied by the creation of poverty and weakness. The impoverishment of the San and ‘destitutes’ was a structured, comprehensive, and long-term process, caused less by phenomena such as periodic drought than by an elite of economic and political power, and the exploitation which they practised. The growth economy of recent decades has not ameliorated the situation, but has strengthened the wealthy while neglecting or worsening the plight of the San. The state possesses the financial resources and developmental capacities to alleviate poverty, but its controllers continue to prioritise other matters.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 120-125
Author(s):  
Maria Iorgachova ◽  
Olena Kovalova ◽  
Ivan Plets

In the context of the gap between the financial and real sectors of the Ukrainian economy, there is a problem of the absence of financial instruments able to solve the issue of financing the development of the national economic system on a long-term basis. At the current stage of the stock market development, financial engineering has a significant potential for the effective application since it can become an instrument that meets the current needs of the market. The purpose of this article is to study the current dynamics of development and features of the corporate bond market in Ukraine, as well as to develop the parameters of the new profit-bonds with the help of financial engineering, which takes into account investors’ inquiries in the formation of an investment portfolio and supposed to be a profitable form of attracting financial resources for issuers. Methodology. Materials of periodicals, analytical market reviews, resources of the Internet are the informational and methodological basis of the investigation. The research is based on general scientific and special methods, such as: comparison, systematic approach factor analysis, economic and mathematical methods. A comparative analysis of the parameters of financial instruments has been carried out that allowed determining the investors’ inquiries, investment trends and features of the choice of financial instruments by investors and accordingly to offer competitive debt securities according to the parameters of payment, maturity, security, repayment order, issue of currency. The results of the study indicate that there is the necessity of reformation of the stock market in terms of expanding the range of financial instruments based on financial engineering. The introduction of profit-bonds will allow offering participants of the Ukrainian market competitive conditions for the issue of securities, which are based on the modelled parameters of bonds. A schematic algorithm for the implementation of profit bonds is developed; it joins a complex of interrelated stages of implementation, which are sensitive to internal and external factors of influence. Practical implications. Directions for improving financial instruments on the basis of financial engineering can be applied by the participants of the stock market that will increase the general level of economic activity in the national economy and permit to accumulate financial resources on the profitable terms. Value/originality. The article reveals the development of the domestic market for corporate bonds as an important segment of the stock market through the application of financial engineering and the use of new financial products created to address the issue of attracting the necessary financial resources to the real sector. The introduction of financial engineering as a tool for the development of Ukrainian corporate bond market and its schematic algorithm of the implementation will allow an investor to react in time to the market changes. The creation of the State Fund for the Guaranteeing of Income of the Investors Market Act, which is formed at the state level by analogy with the existing Guarantee Fund for Individual Deposits, will allow the fulfilment of the security parameter that will classify profit bonds as long-term debt instruments with a high credit rating.


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 30-41
Author(s):  
V. S. Gupalo ◽  
◽  
K. S. Kazakov ◽  
V. Yu. Konovalov ◽  
G. D. Neuvazhaev ◽  
...  

Rock mass is considered as a natural barrier impeding the release of radioactive waste into the environment, being part of a multi-barrier system designed to ensure the safety of deep disposal facilities for radioactive waste (DDF RW). A number of regulatory documents [1] and recommendations [2, 3] states the importance of the geological medium, namely, its characteristics for the long-term safety of RW disposal. Current stage of URL development project is specifically focused on providing the opportunities for geological research covering target RW disposal horizons solely via borehole methods before the entire complex of underground excavations is formed. Due to long-term operation of wells and their initial design features, the state of some of these wells has appeared to be unsatisfactory requiring reconstruction. In addition, in accordance with certain legislative requirements, all wells shall be abandoned after relevant operations have been completed. The article discusses the reconstruction and abandonment of wells drilled at the Yeniseiskiy site. It demonstrates the feasibility of proposed designs providing the opportunities for further expansion of studies to investigate the state of rocks under natural conditions and to arrange for monitoring. The paper provides an evaluation and comparative analysis of plugging materials proposed to be applied under well abandonment operations.


Author(s):  
Adam Żabka ◽  
Beata Hoza

The authors of the paper present the results of their research in the structure of resources used to cover financial deficit of institutions of public finance sector on central and local level. The authors also evaluate the consequences triggered by application of different methods of financing. The aim of the paper is to analyse the reasons of low activity of local government units in obtaining financial resources directly from the capital market as compared to the State Treasury and commercial enterprises. By means of tools used in comparative analysis the authors juxtapose the most important parameters of primary and secondary markets of long-term debt securities issued by local government units, the State Treasury and commercial enterprises.


2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oleh M. Semenenko ◽  
Igor V. Moskalenko ◽  
Yevhen I. Marko ◽  
Artem V. Remez ◽  
Dmytro S. Momot

The article reveals the method of forecasting the dynamics of capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine taking into account the projected indicators of adequacy and efficiency of allocated financial resources, as well as a number of recommendations for planning the development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine taking into account the results of the proposed method. One of the fundamental issues of financial and economic forecasting is to determine the reference (optimal) trends in the change of financial and economic parameters allocated to the programs of capacity development programs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the important problems in the development of the Armed Forces is the accuracy and correctness of forecasting the expected results of the implementation of measures and tasks of their development programs. Therefore, the article considers the issues of improving the efficiency of forecasting the development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the validity of the needs for the share of the state budget of Ukraine in the interests of the Armed Forces by taking into account during forecasting indicators of their financial security and efficiency of allocated financial resources. The proposed approach to forecasting the dynamics of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with consideration of the adequacy and efficiency of the allocated financial resources and developed practical recommendations for its use in the formation of their development programs will more accurately predict and adjust the dynamics of capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Armed Forces in general when forming programs for their development in the medium and long-term, as well as a more reasonable approach to addressing the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in these programs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Aisha Naiga ◽  
Loyola Rwabose Karobwa

Over 90% of Uganda's power is generated from renewable sources. Standardised Implementation Agreements and Power Purchase Agreements create a long-term relationship between Generating Companies and the state-owned off-taker guaranteed by Government. The COVID-19 pandemic and measures to curb the spread of the virus have triggered the scrutiny and application of force majeure (FM) clauses in these agreements. This article reviews the FM clauses and considers their relevance. The authors submit that FM clauses are a useful commercial tool for achieving energy justice by ensuring the continuity of the project, despite the dire effects of the pandemic. Proposals are made for practical considerations for a post-COVID-19 future which provides the continued pursuit of policy goals of promoting renewable energy sources and increasing access to clean energy, thus accelerating just energy transitions.


Author(s):  
Dina V. Rusanova ◽  
Oleg L. Lakhman ◽  
Galina M. Bodienkova ◽  
Irina V. Kudaeva ◽  
Natalya G. Kuptsova

Introduction. There is a lack of knowledge of the pathophysiological mechanisms that form peripheral nerve disorders in mercury lesions of professional origin. The study aims to reveal the mechanisms underlying peripheral nerve damage in the long-term post-contact period of chronic mercury intoxication (CMI). Materials and methods. Fifty-one people had the diagnosis of a long-term period of CMI. The post-contact period was 8.5±2.6 years. The authors compared the results with a control group of 26 healthy men who had no contact with toxic substances. Stimulating electroneuromyography was performed. We studied the body systems that could contribute to the formation of disorders in the peripheral nerves. Changes in peripheral hemodynamics were studied using reovasography. The content of autoantibodies, neuron-specific enolase, serotonin, histamine, catecholamines (epinephrine, dopamine), metanephrine, and neurotrophin-3 was reviewed. The content of ceruloplasmin, secondary products of lipid peroxidation processes, reduced glutathione, the activity of superoxide dismutase and the content of nitric oxide levels were determined. Results. The study established pathogenetic structural links of peripheral nerve disorders. The autoimmune process's role was to increase the range of antibodies to the MAG protein and increase the level of antibodies to DNA. Violations of elastic-tonic properties of peripheral vessels could be associated with the functional state of motor axons. The increased content of neurotransmitters is related to the state of peripheral blood circulation; the most pronounced changes were on the legs, which could contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of vasoconstriction. The role of oxidative stress in the formation of demyelinating disorders in patients' peripheral nerves in the long-term period of CRI is possible. Conclusion. Neuroimmunological processes has an essential role in the development of peripheral nerve demyelination was shown, which consists in an increase in the content of antibodies to the MAG protein expressed on Schwann cells of peripheral nerves and in an increase in the level of antibodies to DNA involved in the formation of demyelinating changes when exposed to metallic mercury. The revealed pathological changes in the state of the peripheral blood circulation, characterized by a violation of the vessels' elastic-tonic properties, leading to demyelination of motor axons in patients in the long-term period of CMI. The increased content of neurotransmitters in the examined is of great importance in the state of peripheral circulation. Pronounced changes in blood circulation are established on the lower extremities, which may be associated with the predominance of α-adrenergic receptors in the arterial bed and may contribute to the occurrence and maintenance of vasoconstriction in the legs. The relationship between changes in indicators of oxidative stress, consisting of a decrease in the value of superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione, and the formation of demyelinating disorders of peripheral nerves in patients in the long-term period of CMI has been proved.


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