A Civil Super-Manhattan Project in Nuclear Research for a Safer and Prosperous World

10 Pages Posted: 2 May 2015

See all articles by Didier Sornette

Didier Sornette

Risks-X, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech); Swiss Finance Institute; ETH Zürich - Department of Management, Technology, and Economics (D-MTEC); Tokyo Institute of Technology

Date Written: April 27, 2015

Abstract

Humankind is confronted with a "nuclear stewardship curse'', facing the prospect of needing to manage nuclear products over long time scales in the face of the short-time scales of human polities. I propose a super Manhattan-type effort to rejuvenate the nuclear energy industry to overcome the current dead-end in which it finds itself, and by force, humankind has trapped itself in. A 1% GDP investment over a decade in the main nuclear countries could boost economic growth with a focus on the real world, epitomised by nuclear physics/chemistry/engineering/economics with well defined targets. By investing vigorously to obtain scientific and technological breakthroughs, we can create the spring of a world economic rebound based on new ways of exploiting nuclear energy, both more safely and more durably.

Keywords: social instabilities, nuclear stewardship, innovation, investment

JEL Classification: O30; Q43; N70

Suggested Citation

Sornette, Didier, A Civil Super-Manhattan Project in Nuclear Research for a Safer and Prosperous World (April 27, 2015). Swiss Finance Institute Research Paper No. 15-14, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2601034 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2601034

Didier Sornette (Contact Author)

Risks-X, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) ( email )

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