A scientific calculator may be used Course Code HM 322

School of Engineering
Mechanical Engineering Department

Final Project for Bachelor Degreein Engineering

BSMEBatch 03

Year 3 Semester6

Social and Ethical aspects in Engineering

Wednesday, 02nd July 2020, 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Resource Persons: Muhammad Rizwan Younis

THE QUESTION PAPER CONSISTS OF FIVE QUESTIONS. ANSWER ALL.

SOLUTIONS MUST BE HAND-WRITTEN, SHOWING ALL THE WORKING AND
CALCULATIONS.
SOLUTIONS PRODUCED IN WORD OR EXCEL WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED.
WRITE YOUR NAME AND STUDENT’S ID ON THE SOLUTION SHEET ALONG WITH
YOUR SIGNATURE.
SCAN THE SOLUTION SHEETS, PRODUCE A PDF FILE AND SUBMITTHROUGH LMS
BEFORE 3:00 PM.
YOU HAVE THREE HOURSTO COMPLETE THE SOLUTIONS FOR THE QUESTION
PAPER.
This project allows students to demonstrate their understanding for the subject social and ethical aspects in
engineering. The students are required to use their knowledge to solve final Project task based on the CLO’s
covered. The students are required to scan and submit their solution online through LMS on or before
submission time. Solutions produced in WORD or EXCEL can be accepted.
The solution of given Project in the form of case study requires deep understanding of the following topics
covered in the lectures of social and ethical aspects in engineering.

a. Basic norms of ethics

b. Code of ethics
c. Hierarchy of ethical conduct and principles.
d. Ethical dilemmas in professional and social norms
e. Responsibility and role of intention of engineers
f. Virtue ethics
g. Whistle blowing
h. Self realization of Professional behavior
i. Communication of Engineering Professionals
j. Duty ethics and utilitarianism

The course learning outcomes for social ethics are as follows:

CLO 1: Discuss awareness of professional, social and ethical responsibility in engineering practice
CLO 2: Distinguish between individual behavior and behavior in a group
CLO 3: Choose different safety issues in engineering practice
CLO 4: Explain the impact of personality and cultural norms on engineer’s responsibilities in society

Case Study

This case study is about the nuclear disaster of Chernobyl in 1984. It covers all the ethical mistakes and aspects
involved in the occurring of the disaster. The ethical dilemmas, responsibilities, whistle blowing & cultural norms
of engineers are discussed in it.

The Chernobyl disaster was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on 26 April, 1986 at 1:23:45 AM at the
No. 4 nuclear reactor in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near the city of Pripyat in the north of the Ukrainian
SSR. It is one of only two nuclear disasters rated as INES 7, the maximum severity classification.

The accident started during a safety test on a common Soviet reactor, the RBMK type.

A very large amount of energy was suddenly released vaporizing superheated cooling water and rupturing the
reactor pressure vessel in a highly destructive steam explosion. This was immediately followed by an open-air
reactor core fire. The core fire released considerable airborne radioactive contamination for about nine days which

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precipitated onto parts of the USSR and Western Europe, before being finally contained on 4 May 1986. The
radioactive contamination dispersed over this period was approximately the same amount as that released during the
initial explosion. Thirty-six hours after the accident, a 10-kilometre exclusion zone was created, with the rapid
evacuation of 49,000 people, primarily from Pripyat, and this was increased from 10 to 30 km shortly after when a
further 68,000 persons were evacuated, including from the town of Chernobyl itself.

From years of research we know what technically went wrong in Chernobyl disaster. Write few things, what
“Ethically” went wrong while keeping in mind following points.

Question number 1:

a) Discuss awareness of professional, social and ethical responsibility of engineers in the disaster
[CLO1,PLO6] 5
b) Should the engineers have blown the Whistle? [CLO2, PLO8] 5

Question Number 2:

a) Choose different dilemmas in engineering practice of Chernobyl disaster according to ethical behavior?
[CLO3,PLO7] 5
b) Explain the impact of personality and cultural norms on engineer’s responsibilities in the Chernobyl
scenario? [CLO4, PLO6] 5

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