Mitigation of socio-economic impacts due to the construction of energy projects in rural communities: an evaluation of the Hartsville nuclear power plant transportation-mitigation program

Thesis/Dissertation · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6242855

Whitney, T C

This study analyzes the effects of a commuter ride-sharing program in mitigating the harmful socio-economic impacts of a short-term, labor-intensive nuclear-power-plant construction project. The major hypothesis is that transportation-mitigation programs are more cost-effective in reducing the undesirable socio-economic impacts of large-scale construction projects than programs designed to mitigate impacts through the provision of public services for migrating workers. The dissertation begins by delineating the socio-economic effects of large-scale construction projects in rural areas. It proceeds to show how some of the deleterious impacts were mitigated using a commuter ride-sharing program. After the range of potential socio-economic impacts was established, a framework was developed to evaluate the effects of the transportation-mitigation program in mediating the harmful impacts. The framework involved the integration of the cost-benefit technique with social-impact assessment. The evaluation was grounded in a comparative framework whereby the Hartsville project community was compared with a similar community undergoing the construction of a nuclear power plant but without a commuter ride-sharing program, and a community not experiencing a major construction project. The research findings indicated that the transportation-mitigation program substantially reduced the in-migration of construction workers into the Hartsville-Trousdale County area. Further, the program was cost effective, with a benefit-cost ratio of 2.5 and net benefits totalling 28 million dollars.

• OSTI ID: 6242855
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
290200* -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Economics & Sociology
290600 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Nuclear Energy
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320203 -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Transportation-- Land & Roadway
530100 -- Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies-- Social & Economic Studies-- (-1989)
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENERGY SOURCE DEVELOPMENT
FEDERAL REGION IV
INSTITUTIONAL FACTORS
NORTH AMERICA
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
POWER PLANTS
RURAL AREAS
SOCIAL IMPACT
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS
TENNESSEE
THERMAL POWER PLANTS
TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
USA