Radioactive Waste Management 2010 2010 Partnering for Long-term Management of Radioactive Waste Partnering for Long-term National radioactive waste management programmes are in various phases of siting facilities and rely on distinct technical approaches for different categories of waste. In all cases, it is necessary for institutional actors and the potential or actual host community to build a meaningful, workable relationship. Partnership Partnering for Long-term Management of Radioactive Waste Management of Radioactive approaches are effective in achieving a balance between the requirements of fair representation and competent participation. With host community support, they also help ensure the desirable combination of a licensable site and management concept as well as a balance between compensation, local control Waste and development opportunities. This report provides up-to-date information on experience with local partnership arrangements in 13 countries. The characteristics, advantages and aims of community partnerships are also described in addition to the concept's evolution over the past decade. Evolution and Current Practice in Thirteen Countries Belgian partnerships General assembly Executive committee (local members + (local members + implementer) implementer) Local partners Project Politicians and administrators coordinators Social, cultural and environmental organisations Trades people, farmers, unions, etc. Working groups ZZZQHDIU (66 2010 02 1 P) € 45 -:HSTCQE=U]X[^V: ISBN 978-92-64-08369-1 NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY Radioactive Waste Management Partnering for Long-term Management of Radioactive Waste Evolution and Current Practice in Thirteen Countries © OECD 2010 NEA No. 6823 NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT The OECD is a unique forum where the governments of 30 democracies work together to address the economic, social and environmental challenges of globalisation. The OECD is also at the forefront of efforts to understand and to help governments respond to new developments and concerns, such as corporate governance, the information economy and the challenges of an ageing population. The Organisation provides a setting where governments can compare policy experiences, seek answers to common problems, identify good practice and work to co-ordinate domestic and international policies. The OECD member countries are: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities takes part in the work of the OECD. OECD Publishing disseminates widely the results of the Organisation’s statistics gathering and research on economic, social and environmental issues, as well as the conventions, guidelines and standards agreed by its members. This work is published on the responsibility of the Secretary-General of the OECD. The opinions expressed and arguments employed herein do not necessarily reflect the official views of the Organisation or of the governments of its member countries. NUCLEAR ENERGY AGENCY The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) was established on 1st February 1958 under the name of the OEEC European Nuclear Energy Agency. It received its present designation on 20th April 1972, when Japan became its first non-European full member. NEA membership today consists of 28 OECD member countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Korea, the Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Commission of the European Communities also takes part in the work of the Agency. The mission of the NEA is: – to assist its member countries in maintaining and further developing, through international co- operation, the scientific, technological and legal bases required for a safe, environmentally friendly and economical use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, as well as – to provide authoritative assessments and to forge common understandings on key issues, as input to government decisions on nuclear energy policy and to broader OECD policy analyses in areas such as energy and sustainable development. Specific areas of competence of the NEA include safety and regulation of nuclear activities, radioactive waste management, radiological protection, nuclear science, economic and technical analyses of the nuclear fuel cycle, nuclear law and liability, and public information. The NEA Data Bank provides nuclear data and computer program services for participating countries. In these and related tasks, the NEA works in close collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, with which it has a Co-operation Agreement, as well as with other international organisations in the nuclear field. Publié en français sous le titre : Partenariats pour la gestion à long terme des déchets radioactifs Évolution et pratique actuelle dans treize pays NEA n° 6824 Corrigenda to OECD publications may be found on line at: www.oecd.org/publishing/corrigenda. © OECD 2010 You can copy, download or print OECD content for your own use, and you can include excerpts from OECD publications, databases and multimedia products in your own documents, presentations, blogs, websites and teaching materials, provided that suitable acknowledgment of OECD as source and copyright owner is given. All requests for public or commercial use and translation rights should be submitted to [email protected]. Requests for permission to photocopy portions of this material for public or commercial use shall be addressed directly to the Copyright Clearance Center (CCC) at [email protected] or the Centre français d'exploitation du droit de copie (CFC) [email protected]. FOREWORD The Forum on Stakeholder Confidence (FSC) was created in 2000 under a mandate from the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency’s Radioactive Waste Management Committee to facilitate the sharing of international experience in addressing the societal dimension of radioactive waste management (RWM). It explores means of ensuring an effective dialogue amongst all stakeholders and considers ways to strengthen confidence in decision-making processes. The FSC has documented a wealth of experience through topical sessions and studies, and in particular through its national workshops and community visits. Summaries and proceedings are available online at www.nea.fr/html/rwm/fsc/. In 2004, the Forum synthesised countries’ experience of relationship-building in the report Learning and Adapting to Societal Requirements for Radioactive Waste Management. Partnership approaches were cited as effective in achieving a balance between the requirements of fair representation and competent participation. They were also found to contribute to the desirable combination of a licensable site and management concept with host community support. Finally, partnership arrangements help ensure a balance between compensation, local control and development opportunities. Elements of the partnership approach have been incorporated into the RWM strategy of most OECD countries. Such an approach to decision making, to jointly own both the problem and the solution, is increasingly implemented with success worldwide. This report documents how the approach to partnering has been or is being implemented in 13 countries, namely: Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Hungary, Japan, Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States. In this context, it should be mentioned that the waste management programmes considered in the report are at very different stages and actual experience in implementation reflects participatory measures during the stage of designing the siting procedure or first siting steps. It is to be expected that within the coming years there will be growing experience as well as application to the full waste management cycle. This publication may aid future assessments of subsequent evolution and progress and can be consulted now for ideas and insights into transversal findings. Acknowledgements This publication is based on a study prepared in 2007 by the UK Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) which reviewed the partnership approach in ten countries. The NDA gracefully accepted the FSC proposal to augment and disseminate its study. Special thanks are due to Dr. E. Atherton, an FSC member from the United Kingdom and the NDA Head of Stakeholder and Community Engagement for Radioactive Waste Management. Prof. A. Vári and Dr. C. Pescatore augmented the original “Overview and transversal findings” with an analysis of the last decade of progress. These materials were reviewed and adopted by the FSC members. The latter contributed the texts on their own country experiences. Ms. C. Mays served as the editor of the present text, aided by Ms. K. Sazama and Ms. M.-L. Peyrat. Ms. W. Sabbah assured the French translation. 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword ........................................................................................................................................... 3 Overview and transversal findings .................................................................................................