11:40 - 13:00
Room: G1351
Oral session
Chair/s:
Tapio Litmanen
Perceptions of justice influencing community acceptance of spent nuclear fuel disposal. A case study in two Finnish nuclear communities
Tapio Litmanen 1, Tuuli Vilhunen 2, Behnam Taebi 3, Matti Kojo 2
1 Department of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, Jyväskylä
2 School of Management, University of Tampere, Finland, Tampere
3 Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands, Delft

Final disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) from nuclear power plants is an ethical issue with implications within and across generations. We address this issue from the perspective of nuclear communities, the places that face injustice due to the potential technological risks from inherent in nuclear energy production. Perceived justice can further influence local acceptance of nuclear waste repositories. A resident survey (n=454) was conducted in two Finnish nuclear communities which are alternative sites for a planned second repository for SNF. We investigated the residents’ conceptions of justice and trust regarding the repository, and how these aspects were related to acceptance of the repository, and whether these communities, in different stages of their lifecycles as nuclear communities, differed in terms of the perceived justice and community acceptance of the repository. The main findings show that residents of both communities were aware of intragenerational and intergeneraional injustices in the procedures and distribution of risks of the proposed repository. The repository was not accepted in either of the communities, and the claims regarding justice and trust were related to the acceptance of the repository. The findings also suggest that the more experienced community, i.e. the nuclear oasis, expressed greater mistrust and perceived greater injustice than the “less experienced”, i.e. the greenfield community, which expressed more concern over intragenerational distributive justice than the nuclear oasis. It was also found that the communities experienced similar concern over the intergenerational justice of the geological disposal of SNF. Therefore we argue that previous experience in local communities of SNF disposal does not enhance community acceptance or the sense of procedural and intergenerational justice in repository siting.


Reference:
S42-01
Session:
Risk and Inequality, part II
Presenter/s:
Tapio Litmanen
Presentation type:
Oral presentation
Room:
G1351
Chair/s:
Tapio Litmanen
Date:
Wednesday, 20 June
Time:
11:40 - 13:00
Session times:
11:40 - 13:00