Nuclear Waste Management in Canada
Nuclear Waste Management in Canada
Critical Issues, Critical Perspectives
As oil reserves decline and the environment takes centre stage inpublic policy discussions, the merits and dangers of nuclear power andnuclear waste management continue to be debated. Canada is intent onbuilding more reactors to increase energy production without destroyingthe planet, but it and other nuclear energy-producing countries facenot only technical problems but also social and ethical issues.
Nuclear Waste Management in Canada provides a criticalantidote to the favourable position of government and industry. Thecontributors build their case by exploring key issues and developments.What do frequently used terms such as safety, risk, and acceptabilityreally mean? How and why did the public consultation process in Canadafail to address ethical and social issues? What is the significance andpotential of a public consultation process that involves diverseinterests, epistemologies, and actors, including Aboriginal peoples?And how do we ensure that our frameworks for discussion are inclusiveand ethical?
This timely collection defuses the uncertainty, ambiguity, andignorance that surrounds discussions about nuclear energy.
It will appeal to academics, students, and stakeholders in public
policy or environmental studies who want to think critically and more
broadly about how we approach energy generation and waste management.
This book is a solid contribution to the political science of public consultation, a strong message to the Canadian nuclear industry, and a sophisticated source of support for individuals and groups who wish to challenge basic assumptions we should never take for granted.
Darrin Durant is an assistant professor in theProgram in Science and Technology Studies at York University.Genevieve Fuji Johnson is an assistant professorin the Department of Political Science at Simon Fraser University.
Contributors:
Richard Kuhn, Brenda Murphy, Anna Stanley, and Peter Timmerman
Abbreviations
1 Critical Perspectives on the Nuclear Story / Darrin Durant andGenevieve Fuji Johnson
2 The Trouble with Nuclear / Darrin Durant
3 An Official Narrative: Telling the History of Canada’sNuclear Waste Management Policy Making / Darrin Durant andAnna Stanley
4 The Long Haul: Ethics in the Canadian Nuclear Waste Debate /Peter Timmerman
5 Public Consultation as Performative Contradiction: LimitingDiscussion in Canada’s Nuclear Waste Management Debate /Darrin Durant
6 The Darker Side of Deliberative Democracy: The Canadian NuclearWaste Management Organization’s National Consultation Process /Genevieve Fuji Johnson
7 Representing the Knowledges of Aboriginal Peoples – The"Management" of Diversity in Canada’s Nuclear FuelWaste / Anna Stanley
8 Canadian Communities and the Management of Nuclear Fuel Waste /Brenda L. Murphy
9 Situating Canada’s Approaches to Siting a Nuclear Fuel WasteManagement Facility / Brenda L. Murphy and Richard Kuhn
References; Contributors; Index
