Incorporating Value Discussions into High
Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Policy:
Results of Developing Fieldwork
Rin Watanabe
Abstract The disposal of high level radioactive waste has fared no better in Japan
since its legislation in 2000 than in most countries grappling with the same problem. This research aims to contribute to realizing some form of disposal in Japan,
by suggesting ideas for an improved institutional scheme of policy making. This
scheme concerns value judgments in decisions of technology use. Historically,
implementing agencies have allowed limited debate on issues of value. What would
develop if values previously neglected were given a chance to become a technical
option of their own for the disposal of high level radioactive waste? This question
has been taken out to the field, in the form of group interviews of young citizens.
Here, the details and preliminary discussion of the fieldwork are described, as a
temporary result of this study. A final section is dedicated to discuss the possible
contributions of this study to the consideration of engineering resilience.
Keywords High level radioactive waste disposal Á Policy making Á Value
discussions Á Citizen interviews
1 Introduction
1.1 High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal in Japan
The disposal of high level radioactive waste has fared no better in Japan than in
most countries grappling with the same problem. Since 2002, two years after
legislation announced that Japan’s waste would be vitrified, stored for 30–50 years,
then disposed in a geologic repository within its territory, Japan has embarked on a
process of ‘local solicitation’, asking municipalities to apply appropriate sites for
further investigation. Compensatory money and services sparked near calls for
application nationwide, but nothing has been officially registered.
R. Watanabe (&)
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: watanabe@esl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Ahn et al. (eds.), Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58768-4_29
325
Level Radioactive Waste Disposal Policy:
Results of Developing Fieldwork
Rin Watanabe
Abstract The disposal of high level radioactive waste has fared no better in Japan
since its legislation in 2000 than in most countries grappling with the same problem. This research aims to contribute to realizing some form of disposal in Japan,
by suggesting ideas for an improved institutional scheme of policy making. This
scheme concerns value judgments in decisions of technology use. Historically,
implementing agencies have allowed limited debate on issues of value. What would
develop if values previously neglected were given a chance to become a technical
option of their own for the disposal of high level radioactive waste? This question
has been taken out to the field, in the form of group interviews of young citizens.
Here, the details and preliminary discussion of the fieldwork are described, as a
temporary result of this study. A final section is dedicated to discuss the possible
contributions of this study to the consideration of engineering resilience.
Keywords High level radioactive waste disposal Á Policy making Á Value
discussions Á Citizen interviews
1 Introduction
1.1 High Level Radioactive Waste Disposal in Japan
The disposal of high level radioactive waste has fared no better in Japan than in
most countries grappling with the same problem. Since 2002, two years after
legislation announced that Japan’s waste would be vitrified, stored for 30–50 years,
then disposed in a geologic repository within its territory, Japan has embarked on a
process of ‘local solicitation’, asking municipalities to apply appropriate sites for
further investigation. Compensatory money and services sparked near calls for
application nationwide, but nothing has been officially registered.
R. Watanabe (&)
University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
e-mail: watanabe@esl.t.u-tokyo.ac.jp
© The Author(s) 2017
J. Ahn et al. (eds.), Resilience: A New Paradigm of Nuclear Safety,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-58768-4_29
325