Nuclear Waste Management in a Globalised World

High-level nuclear waste (HLW) is a controversial and risky issue. For the next 100 years, the HLW will be subject to policy decisions and value assessments. Physically safe, technologically stable, and socio-economically sustainable HLW-management will top the agenda. That must be accomplished in a society whose segments are both stable and in a rapid state of flux, under the influence of global as well as national factors, private interests as well as the vagaries of national politics. Among the challenges to be faced is how to codify responsibilities of nuclear industry, governments and international organisations, and any adopted management policy must attain legitimacy at the local, national, regional and global levels. All such considerations raise questions about the practical and theoretical knowledge. This special issue book will address these questions by exploring HLW-management in Canada, France, Germany, India, Sweden, the UK and the USA. Special emphasis will be placed on highlighting national context, current trends and uncertainties, with relevance to a socially sustainable contemporary and future HLW-management.

Urban Strandberg is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Gothenburg and Research Fellow at the University of Gothenburg Centre for Public Sector Research (CEFOS) Mats Andrén is a Professor of History of Ideas and Science at the University of Gothenburg and Director of the Centre for European Research at University of Gothenburg (CERGU).

1. Introduction: Nuclear waste management in a globalised world Urban Strandberg and Mats Andrén 2. Radwaste in Canada: a political economy of uncertainty Darrin Durant 3. Concerned public and the paralysis of decision-making: nuclear waste management policy in Germany Peter Hocke and Ortwin Renn 4. Framing nuclear waste as a political issue in France Yannick Barthe 5. Spent fuel management in India M.P. Ram Mohan and Veena Aggarwal 6. The Swedish KBS project: a last word in nuclear fuel safety prepares to conquer the world? Mark Elam and Göran Sundqvist 7. Learning to listen: institutional change and legitimation in UK radioactive waste policy Gordon Mackerron and Frans Berkhout 8. High-level radioactive waste management in the USA Barry D. Solomon