Power and participation in the field of radioactive waste disposal

ABSTRACT

In the last decades of the 20^th century, a ‘participatory turn’ could be detected in radioactive waste management (RWM). Participatory governance and public participation were put forward with the aim of democratizing policy and decision-making. As participatory processes are quite complex, an examination of how public participation is operationalized often offers no straightforward answers concerning the realizations of its democratizing intentions. This study contributes to understanding the ‘double bind’ of public participation. Moreover, we elaborate on how participation can lead to democratization and to the reinforcement of the status-quo. We draw on our experiences within a large-scale participatory project aimed at siting, developing, and building a repository for low and intermediate level radioactive waste (LILW) in Belgium. In our study, we combine a historical perspective of the already two decades-long participatory process with a micro-analysis of a specific participatory initiative.

KEYWORDS:

• Participation
• Power
• Democratization
• Participatory governance
• Radioactive Waste Disposal

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. In Belgium radioactive waste is categorized in type A, type B and type C waste. The low and intermediate level, short lived waste is called category A waste, hence the name cAt-project. The radioactivity of this waste will have decayed after ‘only’ 300 years (in contrast to the category B and C waste that stays highly radioactive for more than 100.000 years).

2. From here on, ONDRAF-NIRAS will be referred to as ‘the state-agency’.

3. From here on, this decision will be referred to as ‘the government decision’.

4. Both municipalities, situated in the province of Antwerp, had been candidate sites, and both established a local partnership: STORA in Dessel (https://www.stora.org) and MONA in Mol (https://www.monavzw.be).

5. The adjustment referred to concerns a limited numerical shift in the composition of the ‘general assembly’. In reality these adjustments have limited impact and do not make any difference in the structure, composition or operations of the partnership.

6. The councils referred to are thematic municipal advisory councils of which every local civil society organization active in that field can become a member.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dries Dingenen

Dries Dingenen is a researcher affiliated with the ‘Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change’ (CRESC) of the Departement of Sociology at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Action research and participatory research are the common threads in his work. By means of these approaches he is committed to democratize his scientific research and to co-create visions for realizing meaningful social transformations. As an an outspoken enthusiast of public participation, both in research and in other segments of society, he is particularly interested in how and with what effects participatory and action-oriented research approaches are acquiring a more central position within academia, and more general, in society throughout the recent decades.

Anne Bergmans

Anne Bergmans holds a PhD in sociology and is associate professor and visiting professor in Sociology of Risk and Safety, and Societal Resilience at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). Her main field of study is the interface between society and technology and the governance of risk. She has a particular experience in research on informed and inclusive decision making on environmental and technological risk, such as regarding the siting of contested facilities, (participatory) technology assessment and (responsible) innovation; and this both in terms of public and company policy. Most of Anne’s research is policy oriented action-research, mainly qualitative in design and based in Science and Technology Studies (STS), with a strong focus on system and network analysis including both humans and non-humans as actors in the risk and safety discourse.