logical framework for analysis. The assessment of TQM as an approach to management that would have either precluded to occurrence of the nuclear reactor accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power generation plant or that would have minimized the consequences of the accident is presented in Chapter 4, as the results of the analysis. The conclusions drawn from the study findings, together with a summary of the study, are presented in Chapter 5.
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE: THE THREE MILE ISLAND NUCLEAR REACTOR ACCIDENT AND ITS EFFECTS
The description of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident, the effects of that accident on the responsible organization and external to the organization, and the exposure of the insurance industry with respect to the accident are presented in this chapter. Additionally, the state of the nuclear power generation industry at the time of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor accident is described. The Nuclear Power Generation Industry in 1979
One of the major problems encountered by the nuclear power generating industry in the 1970s was the fact that construction costs for nuclear generating plants kept "increasing when they were supposed to decrease" over time (Flavin, 1984, pp. 38 39). In the construction of nuclear power generating plants, the learning curve effect simply had not materialized in the United States for most electric utilities. Nuclear power generating plants coming on line in the United States in the late 1970s cost $5,000 per kilowatt of capacity (Curtis, 1984, p. 114). Plants coming on line in early 1970s cost only $500 per kilowatt hour of capacity (Curtis, 1984, p. 114). The high (and escalating) construction costs associated with nuclear power generating plants were a major reason why this source of power was not generally competitive in the United States.
Some utilities in the United States were constructing new nuclear power generating plants at far less th...