Radioactive Waste: Politics and Technology(The Natural Environment: Problems and Management)

Radioactive Waste provides a detailed historical account of the policy and practice of radwaste management in Britain, Sweden and the Federal Republic of Germany. In their differing approaches, these three countries define the parameters of civil nuclear strategy in Europe. The comparative analysis of the evolution of policy clarifies the context of political and technical decision-making. Assessing the varying degrees of influence which the public, the industry and the government exercise over these actions, Frans Berkhout applies the concept of boundaries of control', questioning the extent to which such control can be relinquished. This analysis of nuclear strategy, the politics of nuclear power and the shifting emphasis of government regulation redefines the issue of radwaste management and sets it at the centre of the current debate about power, the environment and society.

Table of Contents:
1 Managing radioactivity 1.1 Radioactive wastes and public concern 1.2 The need for the study 1.3 Methods 1.4 The nuclear-fuel cycle and radioactive wastes 1.5 The objectives of radioactive-waste management and radiation protection 1.6 The structure of the book 2 Time and the boundary of control 2.1 Introduction2.2 Time and control 2.3 Hypotheticality and performance 2.4 Modelling the performance of disposal systems 2.5 Regulating risks and its social consequences 2.6 A synthesis: setting boundaries of control 2.7 Conclusion 3 The Federal Republic of Germany 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Legal and institutional framework 3.3 The historical setting of Entsorgung politics 3.4 An historical analysis of Entsorgung policy 3.5 Conclusion 4 Sweden 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The legal and institutional framework for radwaste management 4.3 The historical roots of nuclear power in Sweden 4.4 The making of Swedish radwaste policy 4.5 Conclusion 5 The United Kingdom 5.1 Introduction 5.2 The control of radioactive wastes 5.3 The logic of reprocessing 5.4 An historical assessment of radwaste management policy and practice 5.5 Conclusion 6 Industry, regulation and the state: historical themes 6.1 Introduction 6.2 The relationship between industrial and environmental regulatory goals in the nuclear-fuel cycle 6.3 Radwaste management: the evolution of policy 6.4 Conclusion 7 The construction of consent 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Legitimation and radwaste policies 7.3 The problem of legitimation 7.4 Regulation and the construction of consent 7.5 Conclusion 8 Conclusions

About the Author :
Frans Berkhout is Research Fellow at the Science Policy Research Unit of the University of Sussex.

Review :

`...recommended...of interest to a range of `experts', political scientists, physicists and regulators, as well as the informed general reader.' - Environmental Values

`This timely book is a welcome addition to the burgeoning literature on technological hazards...this book provides a wealth of localized material on three European countries that should be of enormous use to those of us working in the environmental field.' - Environment and Planning A