The Scaling of Power in West Cumbria and the Role of the Nuclear Industry
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The Scaling of Power in West Cumbria and the Role of the Nuclear Industry by Stephen Haraldsen A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Central Lancashire March 2018 STUDENT DECLARATION FORM Concurrent registration for two or more academic awards Either *I declare that while registered as a candidate for the research degree, I have not been a registered candidate or enrolled student for another award of the University or other academic or professional institution ___________________________________________________________________________________ Material submitted for another award Either *I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been used in any other submission for an academic award and is solely my own work ___________________________________________________________________________________ (state award and awarding body and list the material below): * delete as appropriate Collaboration Where a candidate’s research programme is part of a collaborative project, the thesis must indicate in addition clearly the candidate’s individual contribution and the extent of the collaboration. Please state below: Signature of Candidate ______________________________________________________ Type of Award PhD____________________________________________________ School School of Humanities and the Social Sciences________________ ABSTRACT This thesis explores the relationship between a global industrial actor and its regional host, and what that can tell us about neoliberalism and globalisation. The relationship between the nuclear industry, in particular the Sellafield site, and the West Cumbrian region where it is located is the specific focus for the data collection and analysis. West Cumbria is an isolated region in the very north-west corner of England. West Cumbria was the site of the UK’s first nuclear reactors. Over seven decades, as other industries have declined, West Cumbria has become home to, and economically dependent on, one of the largest and most complex nuclear sites in the world. The core concepts employed to analyse this relationship are power and scale. In particular, this thesis analyses how power is rescaled in the context of state restructuring and the wider changes associated with globalisation. To be able to analyse power it was necessary to develop an applied understanding of the concept. This is informed by a diverse literature, and takes an implicitly geographical and relational understanding of the exercise of power in its diverse forms, bases and uses. Firstly, policy documentation is analysed to understand the impact of the changes to the governance and management of the UK’s oldest and most hazardous nuclear sites. Secondly, survey and focus group data is analysed which focusses on the position of the nuclear industry in the local economy and specific changes made as a result of the part-privatisation of the industry in 2008. Finally, an analysis of economic development plans which aim to grow West Cumbria’s economy, and demonstrate an increasing priority being given to new nuclear developments. Finally, these three areas are brought together to explore how power is rescaled, its implications and the wider relevance of the thesis to other locations and policy areas. CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION 1.1 – Motivations 1 1.2 – Key concepts 4 1.2.1 – Power 4 1.2.2 – Scale 5 1.2.3 – Globalisation and the rescaling of governance 7 1.2 – Aim and research questions 9 1.3 – Summary 10 CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW: THE SCALING OF POWER 2.1 – Introduction 14 2.2 – Power and scale 14 2.3 – Globalisation 16 2.4 – Governance 21 2.5 – Glocalisation 24 2.6 – The politics of scale and ‘scalar politics’ 29 2.7 – Multi-level governance 33 2.8 – Regionalism 39 2.9 – Post-politics 41 2.10 – Theoretical framework 42 2.11 – Conclusion 47 CHAPTER 3 – WEST CUMBRIA AND THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY 3.1 – Introduction 49 3.2 – The history and context of the nuclear industry 49 3.2.1 – The development of the military and civil nuclear industry 49 3.2.2 – The Achilles Heel: Radioactive waste 61 3.3 – West Cumbria 65 3.3.1 – The home of the UK nuclear industry 65 2.3.2 – Geography and demography 70 3.4 – Conclusion 78 CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH STORY AND DESIGN 4.1 – Introduction 79 4.2 – My story of the research 79 4.3 – Aim and research questions 83 4.4 – Going from ontology to method: the research approach 84 4.5 – Learning to ride the bicycle: Data collection and analysis 87 4.5.1 – Qualitative data collection 89 4.5.2 – Analysis of the qualitative data 98 4.6 – Research ethics 99 4.6.1 – Anonymity 100 4.7 – Case study selection 101 4.8 – Summary 102 CHAPTER 5 – NUCLEAR LEGACY: CREATING COMPETITION 5.1 – Introduction 104 5.2 - ‘Creating a Market’: Privatising the Nuclear Legacy 105 5.2.1 – Public ownership, private management 106 5.2.2 – Competitive Contracts 110 5.3 – Sellafield: The Fall and Rise of State Management 117 5.3.1 – New model: ‘Market Enhanced SLC’ 121 5.4 – Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste 127 5.5 – Discussion: Political projects with scalar implications 136 5.6 – Conclusions 148 CHAPTER 6 – NUCLEAR COMMUNITY: DECOMMISSIONING AND WEST CUMBRIA 6.1 – Introduction 151 6.2 – Nuclear community 152 6.2.1 - Corporate social responsibility and the nuclear risk premium 159 6.2.2 – Identity and obligation 165 6.3 – Privatisation and change 174 6.4 – Discussion: Social closure 189 6.5 – Conclusion 194 CHAPTER 7 - NUCLEAR FUTURE: LOCAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN WEST CUMBRIA 7.1 – Introduction 196 7.2 – Organisations of Economic Intervention 198 7.2.1 - The Regional Development Agency and its partners 198 7.2.2 - Britain’s Energy Coast Masterplan 200 7.2.3 - Britain’s Energy Coast Blueprint 202 7.2.4 - Centre of Nuclear Excellence 213 7.3 – Government policy and constrained freedoms 218 7.4 – Accountability and democracy 226 7.5 – Discussion: Whose region? 230 7.6 – Conclusions 234 CHAPTER 8 – CONCLUSIONS 8.1 – Introduction 237 8.2 – Resolving the research questions 237 8.2.1 – Research question one 238 8.2.2 – Research question two 240 8.2.3 – Research question three 243 8.3 – Implications for the geographies of power 247 8.4 – Future research 250 8.4.1 – What could or should it look at? 250 8.4.2 – Policy developments 251 Appendices APPENDIX A - REFERENCES 254 APPENDIX B - SURVEY TECHNICAL DETAILS 286 APPENDIX C - SURVEY 301 APPENDIX D - FOCUS GROUP TOPIC GUIDE 313 APPENDIX E - FOCUS GROUP HANDOUTS 316 APPENDIX F - MEMBERSHIP OF THE WEST CUMBRIA STRATEGIC FORUM 318 APPENDIX G - ETHICAL APPROVALS 320 List of tables Table 3.1 Summary of the legacy’s three phases and key events 50 Table 3.2 Closeness to geographical groups 73 Table 3.3 Key population and economic data for West Cumbria 75 Table 3.4 Public support for the nuclear industry at national and local 77 levels Table 4.1 How many methodologies in the social sciences? 85 Table 4.2 Sources of documentary data 92 Table 4.3 Data types 93 Table 4.4 Focus group details 96 Table 5.1 Three of the seven NDA Contracting Principles 113 Table 5.2 Policy tools applied by decommissioning and waste 139 management policies Table 6.1 Public support for the nuclear industry at national and local 152 levels Table 6.2 Crosstabulation of opinion towards the nuclear industry with 133 household member working in the nuclear industry Table 6.3 Public opinion towards the nuclear industry by Borough 154 Table 6.4 Reasons for supporting or not supporting the nuclear 155 industry Table 6.5 Nuclear opinion cross-tabulated with belief in special rights 156 Table 6.6 Perception of corporate responsibility of the Sellafield site by 157 geographical area Table 6.7 Geographical areas responders felt closest and second 165 closest to Table 6.8 Difference in trust in people from other nationalities between 155 nuclear and non-nuclear sub groups Table 6.9 Difference between nuclear and non-nuclear sub-groups for 157 awareness of individual actions having global consequences Table B.1 Stratified sample by electoral ward 288 Table B.2 Sample frame before randomisation 289 Table B.3 Sample frame after randomisation 290 Table B.4 Strategies for increasing response rates for surveys 292 List of figures Figure 3.1 Example of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority/Parent 58 Figure 5.1 Body Organisation/Site Licence Company relationship (for 107 the national Low Level Waste Repository). Figure 5.2 Contrasting old and new models of Sellafield ownership and 121 operation Figure 5.3 The scaling of key points in the three most recent higher 130 activity radioactive waste siting processes Figure 5.4 Simplistic and complex representations of the rescaling of 142 the management of Sellafield Figure 7.1 Timeline and classification of economic development 198 initiatives in west Cumbria Figure 7.2 Diagrams from two versions of the 1987 WS Atkins Report 204 establishing the West Cumbria Development Fund and Agency Figure 7.3 Funding flows for the West Cumbria Development Agency 204 and Fund Figure 7.4 Geographical focus of the Energy Coast intervention from 217 the 2007 Masterplan (with the 20102 blueprint rescaled focus delineated in red) Figure 8.1 The relationship between government, nuclear industry and 249 West Cumbria Figure B.1 ‘Leverage-Salience’ model of response propensity for two 295 persons with different leverages and silences associated with survey attributes List of maps Map 3.1 Map of UK nuclear sites 53 Map 3.2 Location and physical and administrative geography of West 70 Cumbria Map 6.1 West Cumbria, divided into four areas 158 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis has taken long and difficult journey from start to finish, and consequently there are too many people and organisations to thank individually for their support.