SAFE SPACE EVENTS PRECEDING NUCLEAR SECTOR. TRANSBOUNDARY IMPACT ASSESSMENT PROCEDURES: POTENTIAL IMPLICATIONS FOR THE VISEGRAD COUNTRIES AND UKRAINE

Abstract

After they have been provided with a party to proceedings status in Trans­boundary Impact Assessment (TIA) procedures, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and to some extent also relevant self-governments were expected to play a more intensive role in knowledge management of transboundary environ­mental and health risks. The research performed within the project acronymed IPPA has revealed that such an expectation was not fulfilled in Europe in the nu­clear sector. This paper summarizes the results of IPPA project research and re­lates them to the relevant results of several other scientific research activities, with an overall aim to shed more light on a need to deal with nuclear knowledge management (NKM) and trust management jointly. The concept of semi-formal safe space events preceding TIA procedures is introduced as one of the options for dealing with NKM and trust management jointly, and feasibility of this concept is briefly analysed. In the concluding part, potential implications for the Visegrad four countries and Ukraine are briefly outlined.