The Governance Ecosystem of Radioactive Waste Management in France: Governing of and with Mistrust

Abstract

AbstractFrance is one of the forerunners in advancing towards implementation of a high-level radioactive waste (HLW) repository. The state agency responsible for radioactive management, Andra, plans to start the construction of the “Cigéo” deep geological disposal facility in 2022, a pilot testing phase in 2025, and operation in 2040–2050. Although supported by most parliamentarians and key stakeholders in the region, the project continues to generate controversy and recurrent clashes between opponents and the police. The French nuclear sector has been among the pioneers in developing and institutionalising “counter-expertise”, the relations between civil society and project promoters have been tense, and the media have played a vigilant watchdog role, especially since the Chernobyl accident in 1986. In consequence, the authorities and industry have designed a range of response mechanisms, including the requirement for the project to remain reversible, the establishment of permanent and ad hoc multi-stakeholder bodies, and experiments at “co-creation of knowledge” by experts and citizens holding distinct types of expertise. The long and conflict-ridden history of the project provides numerous useful lessons on the multiple functions of mistrust as both a driver and a mechanism of articulation across domains of governance, the role of reversibility as a key notion helping to manage mistrust and cross-domain interaction, and the impact of the nuclear-sector legacies and path dependencies in shaping high-level radioactive waste governance.