Description

As a socio-technical endeavour, deep geological disposal of radioactive waste links to different aspects of sustainability – particularly concerning time. Due to its very long timeframe (several decades for implementation, operation and closure to hundred thousands of years for long-term safety) and scope, it is unique compared to other infrastructure projects: it is a clear transgenerational project, which automatically raises questions of sustainability. Not only waste management organisations (WMOs) - tasked with the implementation of radioactive waste disposal - but also other actors like regulators face sustainability challenges with regard to time-related aspects. This includes for example safety, intra- and intergenerational justice, endurance of institutions, participation of civil society, or knowledge management. However, is sustainability just a fashionable label in the discourse on geological disposal of radioactive waste? Is the discussion on sustainability even necessary? What are possible positive inputs of this discussion? In order to approach these questions, this session focusses on sustainability questions specifically related to the temporal aspects of final disposal of radioactive waste.

Objectives and scope

This session discusses various topics connecting time and sustainability in the implementation of geological disposal of radioactive waste. It focusses on the institutions involved, public participation and empowerment of society as well as preserving expertise and knowledge. In this context, it addresses the following general questions: What does sustainability mean regarding implementing final disposal of radioactive waste – especially for the WMOs? How can WMOs respect sustainability aspects and meet the respective challenges? Time is a safety factor: no compromise to the best possible safety shall be made but WMOs have to implement the geological disposal efficiently with reaching milestones and goals within a certain time. The relationship between safety and sustainability should be discussed, i.e. aspects of reciprocity, dependency or mutual exclusion. Moreover, aspects of justice, responsibility and fairness towards current and future generations as well as in the corresponding processes are relevant. Difficulties in predicting long-term future social, political, economic and environmental developments lead to the question of sustainability of the involved institutions. In view of the time scales, institutions are required that are able to act over long periods and to develop in line with changing boundary conditions. From the perspective of time and sustainability, questions of securing institutions as well as institutional embedding of the task are relevant. This includes additional aspects: transparent knowledge transfer and participation of the civil society and further stakeholder raise the question of whether and how corresponding formats are received and perceived. The task of transferring knowledge to future generations with changing social conditions and structures is challenging which requires a successful interaction between civil society and WMOs. In the field of knowledge management, it is and will be relevant to enable sustainable preservation of expertise - both now and in the future. In this context, retrospective considerations and evaluations of sustainability aspects in earlier approaches and programs can also be helpful (e.g. the relation of time planning and progress in reality as a permanent dilemma). Even before the forthcoming and popularization of the term ‘sustainability’, there was a discussion how to realize geological disposal of radioactive waste in a safe but economically efficient manner.

Contributions

Contributions with a socio-technical focus from all disciplines on national and international perspective are welcome and can address but are not limited to the following topics in context of time and sustainability:
• Safety and sustainability: aspects of reciprocity, dependency, exclusion
• Intra- / intergenerational and procedural aspects: responsibility, justice
• Endurance of institutions: resilient systems, long-term governance, organisational learning, aspects of error and safety culture, development of political landscape (e.g. relationship between the executive and legislative power, changing political majorities or public opinion)
• Participation of civil society: evaluation and results of formats of stakeholder involvement, models for evaluating participation formats
• Knowledge management: processes of preservation of knowledge and expertise, digital systems
• History: lessons learned from former approaches, programs and projects