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NUCLEAR ENGINEERING ETHICS
Nicholas Youwakim (ney6@pitt.edu)
Mr. Harris brought up a very valid point, that we have
designed several mechanisms to serve as back up if the main
cooling system fails. However, I still did not feel comfortable
considering how dangerous nuclear energy can be. The
stakeholders were more interested in seeing a final product,
and they threatened to pull their money out if the project went
over the deadline.
Since the project deadline is coming up, final safety
checks need to be signed off on by myself and the two other
engineers. They are also ethically confused about what to do
in this situation.
Mr. Harris told us to give him our signed paper a week from
today so that we could keep on schedule. Feeling very uneasy
about my current dilemma, I decided to go home and think
things over. What are my possible options? Who can help me
make this decision? How is this decision going to affect the
world?
INTRODUCTION
There is nothing better than conquering the impossible
and paving the way for future generations. This is something
that engineers do on a daily basis. However, ethical dilemmas
arise sometimes. These dilemmas can cause engineers to make
bad decisions. Many times when engineers make bad decisions
they could either hurt or kill people in society. With people’s
lives on the line, engineers are expected to abide by various
different codes of ethics. However, how can we be sure that
these codes are truly helpful to everyone in the engineering
field? Engineers could be a part of various different projects
such as building bridges, creating toys for children, or making
artificial organs. It is important that engineers evaluate their
options when faced with an ethical scenario, and follow the
various codes of ethics in order to keep society safe.
MY DILEMMA
BACKGROUND OF NUCLEAR ENERGY
When I was a young engineer and had just graduated from
The University of Pittsburgh, I had been offered a job in
France. The job involved a revolutionary new clean energy
source called fusion. I accepted the job, and was excited to be
applying my knowledge to such a rewarding cause. After
making various discoveries about fusion energy on a small
fusion reactor called JET (Joint European Torus), I was offered
a job to work as a senior nuclear engineer for a new full scale
fusion power plant being built.
This was fifteen years ago that I was asked to Co-lead,
along with two others, the revolutionary ITER (International
Thermonuclear Energy Reactor) project in France. After
fifteen long years of building and over two billion dollars
spent, the ITER tokamak’s deadline is slowly approaching and
is only one year away.
In honor of the project finally coming to an end, I decided
to review my notes from back when I used to work with JET.
After reviewing my notes, I noticed a fatal flaw in the new
ITER tokamaks’ design. I double checked to make sure my
reasoning was correct. The major flaw that I noticed was that
the cooling system that flows around the extremely hot fusion
reaction occurring could possibly fail 5% of the time, which
was way too high for my liking.
Immediately, I called for an executive meeting between
my two partners, the project manager, and some of the major
stakeholders of which have funded the project. I expressed my
concern towards the flaw in the system. However, others did
not have the same view as me. Mr. Harris, the project manager,
and all five of the major stakeholders present refused to believe
that the flaw would need to be fixed.
University of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering
2015-11-3
First off, it is important to have a better understanding
about what fusion is and what the organizations ITER and JET
are. This will give you a better understanding of the possible
consequences that could come out of this scenario.
DESCRIPTION OF FUSION
There are many sources that could help describe what
fusion is, but HowStuffWorks.com, a respected science online
site, defines fusion as “a nuclear reaction in which two or more
atomic nuclei come very close and then collide at a very high
speed and join to form a new nucleus. During this process,
matter is not conserved because some of the matter of the
fusing nuclei is converted to energy” [1]. This system is known
to occur within the sun. Since energy is not conserved, massive
amounts are given off in the form of heat.
In order to create an environment in which fusion can take
place, two major requirements must be satisfied. First, in order
to get the nuclei moving at extreme speeds, they must be
heated up. C. Freudenrich, a journalist covering fusion
projects, states “High temperature is what gives the hydrogen
atoms enough energy to overcome the electrical repulsion
between the protons. Fusion on earth requires temperatures
about 100 million Kelvin. At these temperatures, hydrogen is
a plasma, not a gas. Plasma is a high-energy state of matter in
which all the electrons are stripped from atoms and move
freely about” [2]. The sun achieves this high temperature by
using its large mass and force of gravity to compress the
hydrogen particles within the core. Along with the extreme
temperatures, a short history of both JET and ITER are
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Nicholas Youwakim
necessary in order to achieve full understanding of the
situation.
THE ITER AND JET TOKAMAKS
The JET (Joint European Torus) and ITER (International
Thermonuclear Energy Reactor) organizations are both located
in France. In fact, ITER was actually formed because of the
discoveries made at JET. ITER is a much larger scale project
that is going to be the first full scale fusion power plant in the
world. JET is just a smaller scale research fusion reactor.
The JET tokamak, built in 1985, was the first medium
sized fusion tokamak ever built. Iter.org describes a tokamak
as, “a device using a magnetic field to confine a plasma in a
torus shape” [3]. This technology is able to reenact the extreme
pressure and heat of the sun all while keeping the reaction
contained. Euro fusion, Europe’s head fusion organization,
reported that JET has 32 toroidal magnets and 6 poloidal
magnets, which create magnetic fields up to 3.5 tesla [4]. These
magnets, along with the heating units, are able to keep the
particles moving fast and close together.
JET, being a demo, required many other different systems
to be installed as research went on. The cooling system being
one of the more important ones because of the extreme
temperatures that are reached. Two massive refrigerators have
been installed on site to cool the machine down by pumping
cold water around the machine through pipes [4]. The JET
tokamak was made of mostly copper magnets, and without a
cooling process, the copper overheated very quickly.
C. Shimell, a scientist who has worked alongside of me
with the JET Tokamak for over ten years claimed, “In 1997,
JET set the world record for producing the largest amount of
power (16MW) from fusion using deuterium-tritium (D-T), the
fuel proposed for the first generation of fusion power plants”
[5]. After some major upgrades, a new organization was
formed to create the first large scale power plant. This is the
organization that I currently work for called ITER.
The ITER tokamak is currently being built and will be the
first large scale fusion power plant ever created [3]. The most
important improvements within the upgraded device other than
just pure size include the magnets and walls of the chamber.
The magnets included: 18 superconducting toroidal field
and 6 poloidal field coils, a central solenoid, and a set of
correction coils that magnetically confine, shape and control
the plasma inside the vacuum vessel [3]. In the JET tokamak it
was found that energy was lost near the edge of the vessel due
to periodic energy outburst. The extra magnets including the
correction coils will make sure this issue does not occur.
Also, the magnets will no longer be primarily made of
copper. Copper was becoming hard to use because of its low
resistance to heat. During my time with The JET tokamak we
had to install multiple different cooling units if we wanted to
keep the machine running for long durations of time. The new
superconductive magnets are stronger and easier to cool down.
The second big change is called the blanket. The blanket
is a thick coding of the metals beryllium and lithium to the
walls of the vessel. The blanket slows neutrons and converts
their kinetic energy into thermal energy. In a fusion power
plant, this energy will be used for electrical power production
[3]. This aspect of the new tokamak helps to cool down the
components of the machine and protect them from the extreme
heat and radiation within the machine.
The blanket is able to supply heat to a chamber of water.
The water is then converted into steam and passes through a
turbine to create electricity. A source of energy that puts little
to no pollutants into the air and requires very little input.
POSSIBLE CONSEQUENCES
There could be several potential problems that could arise
from anything that involves new technology. However, if all
precautions are taken and engineers make smart choices many
of these accidents can be avoided. It is especially important to
make good ethical choices when concerning nuclear power
because if not, the accidents that could arise will most
definitely prove detrimental to anyone and anything within the
surrounding area.
The ITER project has already used an extremely large
amount of resources and funding thus far. The current estimate
for the cost of the project is over $50 billion. This is five times
larger than earlier estimates [6]. This is why the stakeholders
are so impatient. If the fusion tokamaks prove to be
economically inefficient, then they will not be able to be
implemented across the world. No one will want to fund the
machines and all progress that has been made will be lost. As
more research is done, researchers will constantly be looking
for cheaper ways to create the components of the tokamak.
Another possible negative is the amount of time it takes to
get the power plant running again if something goes wrong. In
the case of the Chinese Experimental Advanced
Superconducting Tokamak, it took about 18 days to cool all
coils to room temperature (4.5kelvin) after a problem with one
of the magnets that occurred in December 2006 [6]. The ITER
tokamak is much larger and will certainly take much longer to
restart if something goes wrong. If used as a full scale power
plant this cannot occur because it will leave people without
electricity for a substantial amount of time. How could I allow
this project to be finished knowing that a fatal flaw in the
design could cause over 500,000 people in the surrounding
area to go without power?
I must also always consider the way that nuclear power is
looked at in the world. If I decide to go forward with a flawed
design, any accident that occurs will give this new technology
a bad image. I have worked over twenty five years now to
develop this technology and it would be heartbreaking to see
all of the resources and time go to waste because of an
unethical decision.
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Nicholas Youwakim
SEEKING HELP
There are multiple sources that I will look over when
deciding what to do in this situation. This is not an easy
decision and luckily there are two organizations of which I
belong to that each have their own code of ethics. There are
also online sources that I can rely on and people in my life who
I can go to when making an ethical choice.
After doing some research, I found a helpful article that
allowed me to look at my problem in a different way. In the
article titled “Engineers Must Embrace Aspirational Ethics”
from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers website,
the author, Mark Crawford, talks about a term called
macroethics. The thought behind the term is that whenever an
engineering project has the ability to have a huge impact on the
entire world, special consideration should be applied. This
consideration should not come from one individual, but instead
come from a variety of sources to make the best possible
choice [7]. Crawford does a good job of showing engineers
that they do not have to make their decisions alone, but instead
should reach out to others for advice.
Being satisfied with my first read, I decided to entertain
another piece of literature on ethics to gain a better perspective.
The article I found was called “Ethics in Engineering”, again
from The American Society of Mechanical Engineers website.
This time the author goes on to explain that engineers should
always consider all consequences in a situation before
proceeding. He quotes an engineering ethics professor from
Texas Tech, William Marcy, who says, “Being ethical isn’t
always about cut and dry answers, but getting yourself to
actually consider the possibilities” [8]. This article allowed me
to realize that I need to make sure everything at the power plant
is safe and running efficiently. As an engineer that is my job.
Other sources that I found helpful were The NSPE’s
(National Society of Professional Engineers), and The ANS’s
(American Nuclear Societies) code of ethics. Both of these
organizations have clear canons that will allow me to evaluate
my decision.
The last source that could prove helpful is my family,
specifically my mother and father. They have raised me to
make good decisions. With the many years of experience that
they both have working in the professional world, they would
be able to give me good advice when evaluating any situation.
Any of these sources could prove vital to other engineers
in similar situations to mine. I advise other engineers to always
consider their options, check various codes of ethics, and
consider others opinions before coming to a conclusion on
their own particular dilemma.
POTENTIAL OPTIONS
After looking over many sources, I decided to choose
between three options. All three options have pros and cons,
but I will have to make a decision soon and need to make the
choice that is in the best interest of society.
My worst possible option is to look the other way and go
ahead and sign the forms stating that the design is safe. This
could allow me to continue to remain popular in the nuclear
engineering field and would make the stakeholders happy.
However, if the cooling system happened to fail, especially in
early years, I would then be blamed for all problems. I would
be sued and my engineering license would be taken away.
Also, many workers or citizens that are within proximity to the
plant would be at risk to radiation and even death. The NSPE’s
code of ethics clearly states, “Engineers should hold
paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public” [9]. If
I choose this option I would clearly be violating this code
because I would directly be putting the public in danger. It is
wrong to put my personal reputation above the safety of others.
Thus, I will not choose this option.
Another option that I could choose is to resign from the
project and give up on all the work that I have accomplished
thus far. However, this would not solve the issue because Mr.
Harris could just hire another engineer and pressure him into
signing the papers. This would in fact cause me to be in
violation of the ANS’s code of ethics. Their code states, “12.
We accept responsibility for our actions” [10]. If I backed
away I would not be able to accept proper responsibility for the
flawed design and would be putting my project in the hands of
others. This choice would not solve the situation properly.
The best possible option that I have decided on would be
to first consult my co-workers. After talking it over with them,
I would hope to reach an agreement. We must decide to not
sign off on the safety papers because the design is not safe
enough. Together we will explain our decision to both the
stakeholders and the project manager and if they still do not
understand we will be forced to bring the issue to public
attention. The ANS’s codes of ethics states, “6. If violations
are brought about, engineers alert the appropriate authorities”
[10]. Even if it results in losing our jobs, this would be the only
way to ensure that everyone is safe. It would also conserve the
future image of clean nuclear energy to the public and avoid
any unnecessary detrimental accidents.
CONCLUSION
Accidents are inevitable in the engineering field.
However, if all engineers make good ethical decisions many
accidents could be avoided. Engineers have access to many
resources that could help them make these decisions and
should always consider multiple options before coming to a
conclusion. One of the most important things to remember is
that engineers are never forced to make a decision alone. There
are always people willing to help and give input. If you ever
feel uncomfortable making a decision on your own do not be
afraid to consult your peers, family members and close friends.
Doing so will keep society safe and out of danger allowing
engineers to do their job successfully, conquering the
impossible and changing the world.
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Nicholas Youwakim
REFERENCES
[1] K. Bonsor. (2012). “How fusion will work.”
HowStuffWorks. (Online Article)
http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-propulsion1.htm
[2] C. Freudenrich. (2011). “How Fusion Reactors Work.”
HowStuffWorks. (Online Article)
http://science.howstuffworks.com/fusion-reactor6.htm
[3] (2015). “ITER: The World’s Largest Tokamak.” ITER.
(Online Article) http://www.iter.org/
[4] (2015). “Research for Tomorrow’s Energy Source.”
EuroFusion. (Online Article) https://www.eurofusion.org/fusion/jet-tech/magnets/
[5] C. Shimell. (2012). “Nuclear fusion, JET and ITER: Your
questions answered.” The Engineer. (Online article)
http://peakoil.com/alternative-energy/nuclear-fusion-jet-anditer-your-questions-answered
[6] R. Hirsch. (2015). Issues in Science & Technology.
Washington, DC: (Print Book) Vol. 31 Issue 4, p35-42.
[7] M. Crawford. (2012). “Engineers Must Embrace
Aspirational Ethics.” American Society of Mechanical
Engineers. (Online Article)
https://www.asme.org/engineeringtopics/articles/engineering-ethics/engineers-must-embraceaspirational-ethics
(2014). National Institute for Engineering Ethics. “Case 1006
– The Coercive Contribution Conundrum.” Texas Tech
University. (Website)
(2011). “It Only Takes a Second.” WebGuru. (Website)
http://www.webguru.neu.edu/professionalism/case-studies/itonly-takes-second
Xiang, H., & Zhu, Y. (2011). The Ethics Issues of Nuclear
Energy: Hard Lessons Learned from Chernobyl and
Fukushima. (Online Journal) Vol. 7 Issue 2.
H. Woods. (2015). “Ethics of Career Choice: Nuclear
Engineering.” Engineering Ethics Blog. (Online Blog)
http://engineeringethicsblog.blogspot.com/2008/10/ethics-ofcareer-choice-nuclear.html
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank a few people for helping me complete
this assignment. First, I would like to thank my parents and all
of the positive role models in the engineering field who set
very high standards for young engineers when it comes to
ethics. Next, I would like to thank my writing instructor Libby
Ferda for taking time to answer my questions that I have had
about the assignment. Along with Libby, I would like to thank
all those at the writing center for helping me to become the best
writer I could possibly be.
[8] E. Butterman. (2014). “Ethics in Engineering.” American
Society of Mechanical Engineering. (Online Article)
https://www.asme.org/engineeringtopics/articles/engineering-ethics/ethics-in-engineering
[9] (2014). “NSPE Code of Ethics for Engineers.” National
Society of Professional Engineers. (Website)
http://www.nspe.org/resources/ethics/code-ethics
[10] (2014). “Code of Ethics – ANS.” American Nuclear
Society. (Website) http://www.ans.org/about/coe/
ADDITIONAL SOURCES
(2015). “Nuclear Fission.” Wikipedia. (Online Article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fission
(2015). “Nuclear Fusion.” Wikipedia. (Online Article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_fusion
(2015). “Tokomaks.” Wikipedia. (Online Article)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokamak
(2014). National Institute for Engineering Ethics. “Case 1021
– When in Rome.” Texas Tech University. (Website)
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