STEP-WISE DECISION-MAKING IN TRIAL: THE CASE OF FINLAND

摘要

A step-wise process towards the disposal of spentrnfuel was defined in Finland in the early 1980’s. Sincernthen steady progress has been made in preparations forrnthe construction of a KBS-3 type repository somewherernin Finland. A major milestone was passed in Januaryrn2000 as the municipality council of Eurajoki acceptedrnthe siting of the repository at Olkiluoto, near thernOlkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant. In December 2000 thernFinnish Government made a “decision in principle”rnapproving of the siting and the disposal concept. ThernGovernment decision has still to be endorsed by thernParliament.rnIn this paper the whole decision process is describedrnwith an analysis of both the strong points and the possiblernrisks and weaknesses of the approach pursued andrnplanned. It is argued that the Finnish nuclear energyrnlegislation with the decision-in-principle procedure andrnlocal siting veto seems to put a reasonable balance ofrnpower between all stakeholders but the solidity of thernsystem will still be tested several times in the future. Thernperspective in this paper is that of an implementer, butrnthe context is the national need to complete the back-endrnof the nuclear fuel cycle.