Voluntarism as Public Engagement: the nuclear waste case

• In Event: Public Engagement in Science and Technology Policy 2

Abstract

Once upon a time, in the history of nuclear waste disposal, social activists of both academic and citizen stripes complained loudly that governance efforts to manage the nuclear waste problem were more like instances of bulldozing the public rather than engaging them in deciding on a course of action. But times have changed, and almost everywhere you look, nuclear waste disposal is the pin-up child for public engagement. The fashion of the day is now voluntarism, because obviously volunteering to let the most toxic substance on the planet be your neighbour is what any stable, secure, informed community would do. The sarcasm is intentional, provoking the question – I hope – of what social scientists should do now that the call to let publics in has been granted? Do we need to develop some methodological antidote to help us assess what counts as a victory co-opted? I’ll briefly use the Canadian case as illustration, because it raises a distinct structural issue. Potential host communities are being excluded because of claimed ‘geological complexities’, but they also just happen to be failing the ‘willing host’ criteria. As analysts do we settle for ‘scientized politics’ as our explanation? Or is there something else going on, something deeper, about public engagement used as a measurement tool for complicity and a means to quietly suppress dissent?

Author

• Darrin Durant, University of Melbourne