Research Governance & Unresolved Feasibility — Pr. Alain G. Elayi

Research Governance and Unresolved Feasibility

What the nuclear transmutation case reveals about long-duration research programmes

This thematic page presents the broader significance of the nuclear transmutation research programme beyond the technical field of transmutation itself. The project documents a case in which a decision-relevant feasibility condition was available from the outset, substantial research and infrastructure expenditures followed, and yet the founding condition remained unresolved over several decades. In this sense, the transmutation case is not only a nuclear case. It is also a case of research governance, programme persistence, and the relationship between scientific productivity and external mission effectiveness.

The transmutation case raises a broader question that concerns many long-duration research programmes: how can a programme remain scientifically productive, institutionally durable, and financially significant while leaving unresolved the external feasibility condition that originally justified it? This question is relevant not only to nuclear policy, but also to research policy, innovation governance, technology assessment, and mission-oriented public R&D.

How should research governance respond when a programme remains internally productive but externally unresolved?