Quantitative analysis of the efficiency of nuclear safety research investment

Abstract

Since the Fukushima accident, public interest in nuclear safety has increased and likewise Korea’s investment in nuclear safety research. However, no specific methodology has been developed to evaluate the nuclear safety contribution of these safety studies relative to the government’s investment. Therefore, this study was carried out to examine the legitimacy, relevance and efficiency of nuclear safety research investment by developing a safety contribution evaluation method. Subjects to be evaluated were those nuclear safety research projects conducted by the Ministry of Science, ICT. To understand the legitimacy and relevance of the government’s nuclear safety research investments, each project identified as a nuclear safety research project was defined by its level of funding (i.e., investment weight) and technical importance (input from each project’s manager). These input values/weights were then compared between each project. This provided an initial top five projects by investment weight and technical importance. Next, safety contribution evaluation criteria were defined and the relative weight of each criterion was calculated by using Analytic Hierarchy Process. Safety research projects were evaluated through a safety contribution evaluation method developed in this study, and the efficiency of nuclear safety research investment was analyzed. This study suggests that the direction of investment in nuclear safety research can be assessed and enhanced in the future by evaluating individual projects in more detail.