Intergenerational justice starts now: Recognizing future generations in nuclear waste management

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14512/tatup.31.3.37

Keywords:

nuclear waste, justice, repository, environmental justice, representatives

Abstract

Intergenerational justice is an inherent component of nuclear waste management. By looking at challenges of intergenerational justice at various stages of the repository siting process, the following thesis is discussed: Current generations can anticipate notions of intergenerational justice by applying high procedural standards to enable equitable distribution between generations and thus adequately recognize the needs of future generations. Applying high standards in this context means a constantly critical, reflexive, and open process, without bias or selfishness. This requires representative bodies such as the German Council of the Young Generation (‘Rat der jungen Generation’) that act as a bridge to future generations.

References

Berger, Johannes (2004): „Über den Ursprung der Ungleichheit unter den Menschen“. Zur Vergangenheit und Gegenwart einer soziologischen Schlüsselfrage. In: Zeitschrift für Soziologie 33 (5), pp. 354–374.

Blowers, Andrew (2010): Why dump on us? Power, pragmatism and the periphery in the siting of new nuclear reactors in the UK. In: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 7 (3), pp. 157–173.

Brunnengräber, Achim (2022): Katastrophe in der Katastrophe. In: Berliner Zeitung, 06. 04. 2022. Available online at https://www.polsoz.fu-berlin.de/polwiss/forschung/grundlagen/ffn/forschung-alt/projekte/laufende/19_Transens/Brunnengraeber-Berliner-Zeitung-06-04-2022-AKW-im-Krieg.pdf, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Bryan-Wilson, Julia (2002): Nuclear time. On markers to deter inadvertent human intrusion into the waste isolation pilot plant storage facility. In: Plazm Magazine 27. Available online at https://magazine.plazm.com/nuclear-timeon-markers-to-deter-inadvertent-human-intrusion-into-the-waste-isolationpilot-plant-85a44d39e29b, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Campos, Andre (2019): The rights of future persons under attack. Correlativity in the non-identity problem. In: Philosophia 47 (3), pp. 625–648.

Campos, Andre (2021): The British Academy Brian Barry prize essay. Representing the future: The interests of future persons in representative democracy. In: British Journal of Political Science 51 (1), pp. 1–15.

Choi, Yunhee; Matsuoka, Shunji (2020): The relationship between trust, procedural justice, and distributive justice in high-level radioactive waste (HLW) management. In: Journal of Environmental Information Science 2020 (1), pp. 33–44.

Danesi, Marcel (2022): Warning signs. The semiotics of danger. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Gosseries, Alex (2008): Theories of intergenerational justice. A synopsis. In: Surveys and perspectives integrating environment and society (S.A.P.I.E.N.S.) 1 (1), pp. 61–71. Available online at https://journals.openedition.org/sapiens/165, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Hocke, Peter (2021): Endlagerung hochradioaktiver Abfälle. In: Armin Grunwald and Rafaela Hillerbrand (eds.): Handbuch Technikethik. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, pp. 388–392.

Hug, Annette (2021): Tiefenlager. Roman. Heidelberg: Wunderhorn.

Jenkins, Kirsten; Sovacool, Benjamin; McCauley, Darren (2018): Humanizing sociotechnical transitions through energy justice. An ethical framework for global transformative change. In: Energy Policy 117, pp. 66–74.

Kasperski, Tatiana; Storm, Anna (2020): Eternal care. Nuclear waste as toxic legacy and future fantasy. In: Geschichte und Gesellschaft 46 (4), pp. 682–705.

Kermisch, Celine (2016): Specifying the concept of future generations for address- ing issues related to high-level radioactive waste. In: Science and Engineering Ethics 22 (6), pp. 1797–1811.

Kunreuther, Howard; Easterling, Douglas; Desvousges, William; Slovic, Paul (1990): Public attitudes toward siting a high-level nuclear waste repository in Nevada. In: Risk Analysis 10 (4), pp. 469–484.

Lamnek, Siegfried (2010): Qualitative Sozialforschung. Weinheim: Beltz.

Lehtonen, Markku (2021): Das Wunder von Onkalo? Zur unerträglichen Leichtigkeit der finnischen Suche nach einem Endlager. In: Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte 71 (21–23), pp. 32–37. Available online at https://www.bpb.de/apuz/333368/das-wunder-von-onkalo-zur-unertraeglichen-leichtigkeit-derfinnischen-suche-nach-einem-endlager, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Leigh, Christi; Dotson, Lori (2011): Interim storage, environmental justice, and generational equity. American Nuclear Society, International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference. Albuquerque, New Mexico, 11.–14. 04. 2011. Available online at https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1141764, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Liebig, Stefan; Scheller, Percy (2007): Gerechtigkeit zwischen den Generationen. In: Berliner Journal für Soziologie 17 (3), pp. 301–321.

NSDO – North Saxony District Office (2020): Landrat Emanuel. Strukturwandel kann nicht in Atommüll-Lager münden. In: Leipziger Zeitung, 28. 09. 2020. Available online at https://www.l-iz.de/melder/wortmelder/2020/09/Landrat-Emanuel-Strukturwandel-kann-nicht-in-Atommuell-Lagermuenden-351351, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Okrent, David (1999): On intergenerational equity and its clash with intragenerational equity and on the need for policies to guide the regulation of disposal of wastes and other activities posing very long-term risks. In: Risk Analysis 19 (5), pp. 877–901.

Ott, Konrad; Semper, Franziska (2017): Nicht von meiner Welt. Zukunftsverantwortung bei der Endlagerung von radioaktiven Reststoffen. In: GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 26 (2), pp. 100–102.

Röhlig, Klaus-Jürgen; Eckhardt, Anne (2017): Primat der Sicherheit. Ja, aber welche Sicherheit ist gemeint? In: GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 26 (2), pp. 103–105.

Röhlig, Klaus-Jürgen; Häfner, Daniel; Lux, Karl-Heinz; Hassel, Thomas; Stahlmann, Joachim (2017): Einschluss oder Zugriff. Tiefenlagerung ohne oder mit Vorkehrungen zur Rückholbarkeit. In: GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society 26 (2), pp. 114–117.

Schlosberg, David (2004): Reconceiving environmental justice. Global movements and political theories. In: Environmental Politics 13 (3), pp. 517–540.

Schwarz, Lucas; Themann, Dörte; Brunnengräber, Achim (2021): Räume erobern, öffnen und verteidigen. Über die Wirkung von Macht beim dritten Beratungstermin der Fachkonferenz Teilgebiete. In: Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen Plus 34 (4). Available online at https://forschungsjournal.de/fjsb-plus/schwarz-themann-brunnengraeber-raeume-erobern-oeffnenund-verteidigen/, last accessed on 03. 11. 2022.

Seidl, Roman; Krütli, Pius; Moser, Corinne; Stauffacher, Michael (2013): Values in the siting of contested infrastructure: The case of repositories for nuclear waste. In: Journal of Integrative Environmental Sciences 10 (2), pp. 107–125.

Shrader-Frechette, Kristin (2000): Duties to future generations, proxy consent, intra- and intergenerational equity. The case of nuclear waste. In: Risk Analysis 20 (6), pp. 771–778.

Spaemann, Robert (2003): Ethische Aspekte der Endlagerung. In: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit (ed.): Ethische Aspekte der Endlagerung. Bonn: Bundesministerium für Umwelt, Naturschutz und Reaktorsicherheit, pp. 25–63.

Steinebrunner, Martin (2019): The experience of the Swiss negotiated approach. Borders as a challenge. In: Achim Brunnengräber and Maria Rosaria Di Nucci (eds.): Conflicts, participation and acceptability in nuclear waste governance. An international comparison volume III. Wiesbaden: Springer, pp. 357–381.

Tremmel, Joerg (2021): The four-branches model of government. Representing future generations. In: Marie-Claire Cordonier Segger, Marcel Szabó and Alexandra Harrington (eds.): Intergenerational justice in sustainable development treaty implementation. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, pp. 754–780.

Tremmel, Jörg (2017): Constitutions as intergenerational contracts. Flexible or fixed? (II) In: Intergenerational Justice Review 3 (1), pp. 4–17.

Warren, Mark (2002): What can democratic participation mean today? In: Political Theory 30 (5), pp. 677–701.

Downloads

Published

16.12.2022

How to Cite

1.
Schwarz L. Intergenerational justice starts now: Recognizing future generations in nuclear waste management. TATuP [Internet]. 2022 Dec. 16 [cited 2023 Sep. 23];31(3):37-43. Available from: https://www.tatup.de/index.php/tatup/article/view/6992