Ethics and the management of spent nuclear fuel

Abstract

In March 2011, Swedish Nuclear Fuel Management Co (SKB) submitted an application to the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority (SSM), and the Nacka Land and Environmental court to build a repository for high-level spent nuclear fuel (SNF) in the municipality of Östhammar. The purpose of this paper is (1) to present the KBS-3 method for the direct disposal of high-level SNF and the debate about the method, (2) to analyze the ethical principles involved, and (3) how to resolve possible conflict between these principles. The paper is divided in three parts. Part 1 contains a presentation of the KBS-3 method and different items in the debate about it. Part 2 concerns the ethical dimension of the method and the different ethical principles that can be discerned explicitly or implicitly in the discussion and the regulatory framework that informs the discussion. Part 3 contains an analysis of the conflicting principles and how this conflict can be resolved. For example, it is argued that some kind of ethical meta-norm might be formulated and that the ethical principles involved in the management of SNF might be assessed in reference to such ethical meta-norm. Finally, it is discussed if and how the conflict between different principles for the management of SNF might be resolved through closer consideration of the relationship between ethical principles and technical practice.