Abstract
The Civil Society (CS) experts involved in the ROUTES work package (Waste Management routes in Europe from cradle to grave) of the EURAD programme investigated how the pillars of the Aarhus convention together with a broader understanding of Transparency and Public Participation (T&PP) are transposed into Radioactive Waste Management (RWM) in the establishment of Radioactive Waste (RW) facilities, primarily geological disposal, in different national contexts. The criteria for T&PP in the development of national RW facilities are proposed and based on the RW Directive, the Aarhus Convention and the CS BEPPER report.
To obtain a broader understanding of the positions of different actors engaged in RWM, a questionnaire was submitted to ROUTES members and to the CS larger group. The focus of the questionnaire concerns transparency in the establishment of national RW facilities and included five topics: effective access to information, public participation, justice (Aarhus Convention), resources (BEPPER report) and T&PP in the development of the national programmes on RWM submitted to the European Commission pursuant to the RW Directive. Nine national cases from advanced and early stage RW programmes (Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, France, The Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden and United Kingdom) are presented and discussed within the context of the pillars of good T&PP. Finally, a quality assessment is provided with lessons learned and general recommendations from the case studies, focusing on how interaction with CS could more generally and robustly contribute to the establishment of national RW facilities.
