Multicriteria Budget Allocation Modeling for Radioactive Waste Disposal Projects

Radioactive waste disposal has raised greater public concern among policymakers worldwide; having long term safety and budgetary implications. In this study, repository costs and management costs of radioactive waste categories. Using hypothetical cases, three projects are considered under different levels of radioactive waste. The main objective of the study is to develop a multi-criteria budgetary allocation model that determines the combination of repository and management costs required to finance radioactive waste disposal projects. A goal programming method is proposed where budget priorities, goals for expenditure and deviation variables are established in order to define the objective function and goal constraints. Using the simplex method, a feasible solution is obtained that determines the level of goal attainment for allocated expenditure to low level, intermediate level and high-level radioactive waste categories. Results indicate variations in terms of goal attainment for budgetary expenditure based on the cost structures governing a specific type of radioactive waste disposal project. The goal attainment-based approach is therefore an effective tool for allocating budgetary expenditure to radioactive waste disposal projects where relevant cost categories can be prioritized if necessary. (author)