ROLE OF THE TSO IN PUBLIC INFORMATION/ DEBATE OPENNESS, TRANSPARENCY

摘要

Licensing of a nuclear facility in Finland involves three phases: the Government resolution, construction licence and operating licence phases. Implementation of the resolution requires Parliamentary approval. At each step, Finland's regulatory body, the Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority (STUK), is requested to give its opinion on the acceptability of the nuclear facility from a nuclear safety point of view. In making its evaluation, the regulator needs assistance from its technical and scientific support organizations (TSOs). In such a role, it is not the duty of the TSO to participate in public debate regarding the safety of the nuclear reactor concept. Likewise, if the TSO supports the power company or the plant vendor in the licensing process, it should not have an active public role. The TSO should only 'tell the facts' if asked by the customer. Often, the TSOs are publicly owned, and in small countries with limited resources, the same TSO may need to work for both sectors. In such a case, the need to maintain independence and impartiality in a plausible way is indeed challenging and the role in public debate is restricted. There are, however, other opportunities where the TSO could gain credibility as an impartial source of information. For example, if the TSO is an institute that conducts research in various energy sectors and is well established at least nationally, its views are noticed. It could publish background information for the layperson, where different phenomena, opportunities, threats and future views are presented in a balanced manner. The views should be balanced in the sense that they should not be interpreted as advocating nuclear energy as the only solution. In order to demonstrate transparency, the organization should be able to show how possible conflicts of interest are resolved. This paper discusses these opportunities based mainly on the experience of cooperation between the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) and STUK.