Trust, distrust and radioactive waste management in contemporary Russia

Abstract

Trust in public institutions in Russia is notoriously low. Yet trust in nuclear energy is, on the contrary, very high, with two-thirds of the population supporting its continued development. To understand this apparent paradox this article explores the meanings of trust with regard to the recently started process of siting repositories for radioactive waste (RW) in Russia as they are articulated in corporate and social contexts, in particular in the “closed” nuclear cities that will be the sites of repositories. We focus on the ways in which trust is defined by the promoters of the projects and by the residents of the hosting communities during public hearings related to the plans to build nuclear waste disposal facilities at a dozen of newly proposed sites. We argue that the hearings are less about trust building per se as they are about accommodating and neutralizing distrust by emphasizing the absence of better alternatives. Using examples from hearings, we discuss three main dimensions of trust: interpersonal, institutional and ideological, as we show the importance of the ideological component of trust that partially compensates for strong institutional distrust.