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Measuring the impact of nuclear accidents on energy policy

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  • Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna

Abstract

This paper investigates the effects of nuclear accidents on energy policy with the help of a panel dataset of 31 countries from 1965 to 2009, using annual data on the capacity of reactor construction starts, as well as the timing of three nuclear accidents scaled five or higher on the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale. After determining the extent of the accident impact in the different countries, I find that neither the Three Mile Island (TMI) nor the Lucens accidents had a worldwide negative effect on construction starts, while Chernobyl did. Three Mile Island had a lasting impact in the United States, however. I show that the effect of Chernobyl wore off in certain geographical clusters, after ten to thirty years. An accident is likely to have a negative and long lasting impact in the country where it happened, and possibly in countries affected by the direct consequences. I find that nuclear capacity enlargement shows a significant lock-in effect, but it was also driven by primary energy consumption and energy security considerations in the past five decades.

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  • Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna, 2014. "Measuring the impact of nuclear accidents on energy policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 121-129.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolec:v:99:y:2014:i:c:p:121-129
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolecon.2014.01.010
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    Cited by:

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    3. Goebel, Jan & Krekel, Christian & Tiefenbach, Tim & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2013. "Natural Disaster, Policy Action, and Mental Well-Being: The Case of Fukushima," IZA Discussion Papers 7691, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Hsiao, Cody Yu-Ling & Chen, Hsing Hung, 2018. "The contagious effects on economic development after resuming construction policy for nuclear power plants in Coastal China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 152(C), pages 291-302.
    5. Thurner, Paul W. & Mittermeier, Laura & Küchenhoff, Helmut, 2014. "How long does it take to build a nuclear power plant? A non-parametric event history approach with P-splines," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 163-171.
    6. Anke Kutschke & Alexandra Rese & Daniel Baier, 2016. "The Effects of Locational Factors on the Performance of Innovation Networks in the German Energy Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Furlan, Claudia & Guidolin, Mariangela & Guseo, Renato, 2016. "Has the Fukushima accident influenced short-term consumption in the evolution of nuclear energy? An analysis of the world and seven leading countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 37-49.
    8. Ming, Zeng & Yingxin, Liu & Shaojie, Ouyang & Hui, Shi & Chunxue, Li, 2016. "Nuclear energy in the Post-Fukushima Era: Research on the developments of the Chinese and worldwide nuclear power industries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 147-156.
    9. Evgenidis, Anastasios & Hamano, Masashige & Vermeulen, Wessel N., 2021. "Economic consequences of follow-up disasters: Lessons from the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    10. Jan Goebel & Christian Krekel & Tim Tiefenbach & Nicolas Ziebarth, 2015. "How natural disasters can affect environmental concerns, risk aversion, and even politics: evidence from Fukushima and three European countries," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 1137-1180, October.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nuclear energy; Nuclear accidents; Energy policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • C52 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Evaluation, Validation, and Selection
    • Q43 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Energy and the Macroeconomy
    • Q48 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Government Policy

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