Acquiring SOcial LIcense for Disposal: trust and acceptance (SOLID) - KYT2022-SAFIR2022 Interim webinar, 18 March 2021 Dr Matti Kojo, Tampere ...

Acquiring SOcial LIcense for Disposal:
trust and acceptance (SOLID)
KYT2022-SAFIR2022 Interim webinar, 18 March 2021
Dr Matti Kojo, Tampere University, Finland

The Forerunner and ”Game Changer”?
Exploring the socio-political context and socio-technical dimensions of NWM
helps to understand the factors and phenomena behind the smooth project.

            If Sweden says NO,
            what will happen to
              Posiva’s project?

“Acquiring SOcial LIcense
for Disposal: trust and
acceptance” (SOLID)
- focuses on trust and trust building as
essential parts of achieving a social license
for final disposal of SNF and high-level
radioactive waste.

- provides further insight into the
multidimensional and layered question of
trust in final disposal of SNF in Finland.

- aims at improving the understanding of
the strengths and weaknesses of Finnish
NWM and particularly its continuity and         Source: MEAE (2018) Finnish Research Programme on Nuclear Waste
flexibility in the changing socio-technical     Management KYT2022 - Framework Programme for the Research Period
context of SNF management.                      2019–2022

The team, funding and publications
Research team:                              Research funding:
JARTTI, T., University of Jyväskylä         100 000 € (2019)
LEHTONEN, M. Universitat Pompeu Fabra        80 000 € (2020)
LITMANEN, T., University of Jyväskylä       No funding (2021)
KARI, M., Tampere University
KOJO, M., Tampere University
KUISMA, P., University of Jyväskylä
VILHUNEN, T., Tampere University
                                            Publications (2019-2021):
Research collaboration:                     6 peer-reviewed articles
• CORE consortium, Strategic Research       1 dissertation (University of Jyväskylä)
  Council at the Academy of Finland         1 article in professional magazine
• European Commission Marie Skłodowska-     6 conference presentations
  Curie Individual Fellowships (IF) grant   2 manuscripts in review
  number 794697-TENUMECA

Research tasks in 2019–2020
Framing of safety in parliamentary decision-making and print media
The objective is to study safety-related arguments in parliamentary decision-making
and leading newspapers on the final disposal of nuclear waste in Finland and France.

The potential virtues of mistrust and distrust in nuclear waste management (NWM)
This subtask focuses on a hitherto neglected key aspect in SLO literature, namely the
potential benefits of mistrust and distrust in NWM governance.

Dissemination and publishing
The objective is to disseminate the research results of the SOLID project, to discuss
their practical implications with stakeholders, and to finalise the publication processes
of the manuscripts prepared earlier in the project.

Framing of safety in parliamentary decision-
making and print media
How is safety framed by national decision-makers and print media?
What kinds of issues were addressed in relation to safety?

Fig. 1 Narrowed data set in Helsingin Sanomat and Le Monde

Source: Lehtonen et al. 2021

Source: Lehtonen et al. 2021

A key difference between the LM and HS
• The greater attention by          • LM focuses on the trust‐
  HS to the confidence‐skepticism     mistrust dimension
  dichotomy.                        • LM framings more frequently
• In other words, HS stresses         evoke “morality‐relevant
  “performance‐relevant               information,” that is, the trust
  information” underpinning           relationships between the
  confidence in the repository        involved parties.
  project.

Data
 Finland                                             France
• Parliament minutes of the plenary sessions         • Debates in preparation of a specific law/Act on
    •   2001: Council of State decision-in-            nuclear waste
        principle of 21 December 2000 on Posiva          •   2006: Programme (framework) law on the
        Oy's application for the construction of a           management of radioactive material and
        spent nuclear fuel disposal facility                 waste
        produced in Finland (64 pages)                   •   2016: Law defining the modalities for the
    •   2015: Statement by the Prime Minister on             creation of a deep geological installation for
        Nuclear Waste Management Research and                the reversible disposal of high-and-medium-
        Safety Assessment (19 pages)                         level long-lived radioactive waste
• Mentions regarding the issues related to           • Debates in both the senate (55 pages) and the
  safety were searched using truncated search          national assembly (257 pages)
  terms: risk, turv, vaar, ong, uhk, uhat            • Mentions regarding the issues related to safety
                                                       were searched using search terms: risk(s), safety,
                                                       safe, security, danger
                                                     • Difference with the Finnish data: debates in
                                                       preparation for legislative Acts, hence plenty of
                                                       debate on amendments proposed by the MPs

Source: Kojo et al., forthcoming

Source: Kojo et al., forthcoming

The potential virtues of mistrust and distrust in NWM

 We explore the shortcomings in the ways in which social license to
 operate (SLO) thinking and practice addresses trust as a key element
 of SLO.

 We illustrate our arguments via examples from nuclear waste
 repository projects in three forerunner countries – Finland, France,
 and Sweden.

Source: Lehtonen et al., forthcoming

The repository projects are characterised by three vital aspects
underestimated in SLO thinking and practice:
1) The complex and dynamic constellations of
interacting trust, mistrust and distrust
• Greater attention to the multidimensionality of
  trust, mistrust and distrust
2) The potential virtues of mistrustful civic vigilance and
distrust-based citizen action
• Recognise and build on the potential benefits of
  mistrustful civic vigilance
• Distrust is not necessarily dysfunctional and harmful
  for democracy
3) The problem of holding institutionalized trust as the
highest criterion of SLO.
• Address trust dimensions that lie beyond the mere
  community-company relations, with particular
  attention to the role of the state.                         Source: Lehtonen et al., forthcoming

Dissemination and publishing

The objective is to disseminate the research results of the SOLID
project, to discuss their practical implications with stakeholders, and
to finalise the publication processes of the manuscripts prepared
earlier in the project.

Publications (2019-)
Peer-reviewed articles
Kari, M., Kojo, M., Lehtonen, M. 2021. “Role of the host communities in final disposal of spent nuclear fuel in Finland and Sweden”, Progress in
Nuclear Energy, 133 (2021) 103632 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2021.103632
Kojo, M., Kari, M., Litmanen, T., Vilhunen, T., Lehtonen, M. 2020. ”The critical Swedes and the consensual Finns: Leading newspapers as
watchdogs or lapdogs of nuclear waste repository licensing?” Energy Research and Social Science. Volume 61, March 2020, 101354,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101354
Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M. 2019. The Role and Functions of Community Benefit Schemes: A Comparison of the Finnish and French Nuclear Waste
Disposal Projects. In: Brunnengräber, A. & Di Nucci, M. R., (Eds) Governing Nuclear Waste: Conflicts, Participation and Acceptability.
Energiepolitik und Klimaschutz. Energy Policy and Climate Protection. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-27107-
7_10
Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Jartti, T., Litmanen, T., Kari, M. 2020. “The roles of the state and Social Licence to Operate? Lessons from nuclear waste
management in Finland, France, and Sweden”. Energy Research and Social Science. Volume 61, March 2020, 101353,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2019.101353
Lehtonen, M., Kojo, M., Kari, M., Litmanen, T. 2021. “Healthy mistrust or complacent confidence? Civic vigilance in the reporting by leading
newspapers on nuclear waste disposal in Finland and France”, Risk, Hazards, and Crisis in Public Policy, Revised version accepted on 17
November 2020. Forthcoming.
Vilhunen, T., Kojo, M., Litmanen, T., Taebi, B. 2019. “Perceptions of justice influencing community acceptance of spent nuclear fuel disposal. A
case study in two Finnish nuclear communities”, Journal of Risk Research. DOI:10.1080/13669877.2019.1569094
Doctoral dissertation
Kari, M. 2020. First of its kind: Eurajoki as a nuclear community and site for the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel, JYU Dissertations 255,
http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-951-39-8245-4
Article in professional magazine
Kuisma, P., Litmanen, T., Kojo, M., 2019. ”Suomalainen konsensuaalinen hiljaisuus vastaan ruotsalainen kriittisyys: Sanomalehtikeskustelu KBS-
3-loppusijoitusmenetelmän riskeistä Suomessa ja Ruotsissa 2008–2015”, ATS Ydintekniikka, 48(3), 16–21.

Thank you for your attention!

This work was funded by the Finnish Research Programme on
          Nuclear Waste Management (KYT2022).