Abstract
lt is first pointed out that no person or organization has a more vital interest in the early establishment of an effective health and safety program within which commercial operations based on Plowshare technology can be carried on with assurance than does that facet of industry which is directly involved in the attempt to prove out these Plowshare applications. The formulation of such a code must be a matter of the highest priority to all concerned. To accomplish this task successfully, however, requires the exercise of a truly hard-nosed objectivity both on the part of the Governmental agencies who bear statutory responsibility for ensuring the public health and safety and also on that of the industrial groups who are trying to realize the significant economic potentials inherent in the Plowshare technology. While it is abundantly clear that achievement of a sound and reliable public health and safety code is imperative for both regulatory agencies and operating industry, it must also be recognized that both groups serve the inescapable additional responsibility of acting as the public's trustees to assure the healthy development of a new technology which may well prove to be of vital importance to the Nation. The basic nature
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Hilberry, N
[1]
- University of Arizona (United States)
Citation Formats
Hilberry, N.
Role of industry in the environmental health and safety aspects of the developing Plowshare industry.
IAEA: N. p.,
1969.
Web.
Hilberry, N.
Role of industry in the environmental health and safety aspects of the developing Plowshare industry.
IAEA.
Hilberry, N.
1969.
"Role of industry in the environmental health and safety aspects of the developing Plowshare industry."
IAEA.
@misc{etde_20699912,
title = {Role of industry in the environmental health and safety aspects of the developing Plowshare industry}
author = {Hilberry, N}
abstractNote = {lt is first pointed out that no person or organization has a more vital interest in the early establishment of an effective health and safety program within which commercial operations based on Plowshare technology can be carried on with assurance than does that facet of industry which is directly involved in the attempt to prove out these Plowshare applications. The formulation of such a code must be a matter of the highest priority to all concerned. To accomplish this task successfully, however, requires the exercise of a truly hard-nosed objectivity both on the part of the Governmental agencies who bear statutory responsibility for ensuring the public health and safety and also on that of the industrial groups who are trying to realize the significant economic potentials inherent in the Plowshare technology. While it is abundantly clear that achievement of a sound and reliable public health and safety code is imperative for both regulatory agencies and operating industry, it must also be recognized that both groups serve the inescapable additional responsibility of acting as the public's trustees to assure the healthy development of a new technology which may well prove to be of vital importance to the Nation. The basic nature of the joint operating procedure required in order to provide an effective way of fulfilling these common obligations is then examined. The discussion then turns to the present stage of the developmental progress of the potential Plowshare industry. Scientific breakthrough has long since been accomplished and scientific feasibility has been quite generally proven. For a number of important possible applications even technological feasibility has been established. In these cases the demonstration of economic feasibility and the attainment of public acceptance are the two factors that still remain to be achieved before a full-fledged if still infant industry becomes a reality. Industry alone is capable of determining economic feasibility. It is also upon industry that the primary responsibility for gaining public acceptance will fall and with all other factors 'go' it will be this latter factor, the public's willingness not only to tolerate but actually to 'buy,' that will determine whether there is to be a business or not. Whether or not any proposed commercial application will prove to be economically feasible and whether or not public acceptance can be achieved will depend critically on the nature of the essential health and safety activities required and on the associated costs of these activities. For industry to proceed with effectiveness, three immediate measures are particularly needed. First, a tentative, 'best-as-of-the-moment' health and safety code covering operational procedures and end product specifications should be formulated to serve as a test set of rules for immediate field use and as a concrete, 'point-of-departure' statement in the development of the eventual regulatory code. The upcoming technological feasibility tests in the Plowshare program should then be used to evaluate its commercial applicability and to guide its evolution toward regulatory status. Here joint action is obviously imperative. Next, if the foregoing is to be meaningful, the research and development aspects of these upcoming tests with respect to health and safety, important as they are, must be scrupulously separated, at least cost wise, from the necessary health and safety operational activities as specified in the provisional code. No matter how cogent, considerations of budgetary expedience must not be permitted to intervene either within the Governmental agencies or within the participating industrial organizations. Honest, 'unloaded' operating costs are an absolute must if the tests themselves are to be meaningful. Finally, it must be recognized that time is one of the most significant factors in determining the success or failure of any industrial endeavor. The present case is no exception. The time factor must be kept continually in mind, for delay can spell defeat for a commercial activity j ust as surely as technological failure. Whenever a contemplated course of action will impose delay, it is vitally important that the anticipated advantages be weighed meticulously against the possible detriments test the hope of small gains inadvertently lead to the achievement of total ruin. Here again the truly judicial sort of appraisal required can be realized only to the extent that open communication and joint evaluation procedures can be established. Success in implementing the required joint operations with due regard to individual responsibilities is anticipated. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1969}
month = {Jul}
}
title = {Role of industry in the environmental health and safety aspects of the developing Plowshare industry}
author = {Hilberry, N}
abstractNote = {lt is first pointed out that no person or organization has a more vital interest in the early establishment of an effective health and safety program within which commercial operations based on Plowshare technology can be carried on with assurance than does that facet of industry which is directly involved in the attempt to prove out these Plowshare applications. The formulation of such a code must be a matter of the highest priority to all concerned. To accomplish this task successfully, however, requires the exercise of a truly hard-nosed objectivity both on the part of the Governmental agencies who bear statutory responsibility for ensuring the public health and safety and also on that of the industrial groups who are trying to realize the significant economic potentials inherent in the Plowshare technology. While it is abundantly clear that achievement of a sound and reliable public health and safety code is imperative for both regulatory agencies and operating industry, it must also be recognized that both groups serve the inescapable additional responsibility of acting as the public's trustees to assure the healthy development of a new technology which may well prove to be of vital importance to the Nation. The basic nature of the joint operating procedure required in order to provide an effective way of fulfilling these common obligations is then examined. The discussion then turns to the present stage of the developmental progress of the potential Plowshare industry. Scientific breakthrough has long since been accomplished and scientific feasibility has been quite generally proven. For a number of important possible applications even technological feasibility has been established. In these cases the demonstration of economic feasibility and the attainment of public acceptance are the two factors that still remain to be achieved before a full-fledged if still infant industry becomes a reality. Industry alone is capable of determining economic feasibility. It is also upon industry that the primary responsibility for gaining public acceptance will fall and with all other factors 'go' it will be this latter factor, the public's willingness not only to tolerate but actually to 'buy,' that will determine whether there is to be a business or not. Whether or not any proposed commercial application will prove to be economically feasible and whether or not public acceptance can be achieved will depend critically on the nature of the essential health and safety activities required and on the associated costs of these activities. For industry to proceed with effectiveness, three immediate measures are particularly needed. First, a tentative, 'best-as-of-the-moment' health and safety code covering operational procedures and end product specifications should be formulated to serve as a test set of rules for immediate field use and as a concrete, 'point-of-departure' statement in the development of the eventual regulatory code. The upcoming technological feasibility tests in the Plowshare program should then be used to evaluate its commercial applicability and to guide its evolution toward regulatory status. Here joint action is obviously imperative. Next, if the foregoing is to be meaningful, the research and development aspects of these upcoming tests with respect to health and safety, important as they are, must be scrupulously separated, at least cost wise, from the necessary health and safety operational activities as specified in the provisional code. No matter how cogent, considerations of budgetary expedience must not be permitted to intervene either within the Governmental agencies or within the participating industrial organizations. Honest, 'unloaded' operating costs are an absolute must if the tests themselves are to be meaningful. Finally, it must be recognized that time is one of the most significant factors in determining the success or failure of any industrial endeavor. The present case is no exception. The time factor must be kept continually in mind, for delay can spell defeat for a commercial activity j ust as surely as technological failure. Whenever a contemplated course of action will impose delay, it is vitally important that the anticipated advantages be weighed meticulously against the possible detriments test the hope of small gains inadvertently lead to the achievement of total ruin. Here again the truly judicial sort of appraisal required can be realized only to the extent that open communication and joint evaluation procedures can be established. Success in implementing the required joint operations with due regard to individual responsibilities is anticipated. (author)}
place = {IAEA}
year = {1969}
month = {Jul}
}