D5.3: Backcasting futures for nuclear energy and society: a qualitative analysis of European stakeholder perspectives
In: Cotton , M , Rowe , G , Whitton , J , Konrad , W , Charnley-Parry , I , Cools , P , Meyer , J-H , Espluga , J , Rubio , M , Prades Lopes , A , Enander , A & Bergmans , A 2018 , D5.3: Backcasting futures for nuclear energy and society: a qualitative analysis of European stakeholder perspectives . European Commission – Council of Europe .
For deliverable D5.3, the social scientists within the HoNESt project have engaged in empirical data collection on the issue of nuclear engagement futures. This research is situated within the context of the historical analysis of work package 2, which has examined the relationship between civil society and the development of the nuclear energy sector across Europe, and work package 4, which has identified the social characteristics of risk perception, social movements of opposition, policy, civil society and regulatory actors, and processes within a range of historical case studies. Within work package 5, the social scientists have identified specific principles of engagement and are working to develop a Theory of Change both within the broader HoNESt project, and for the practices of engagement and decision-making within the nuclear energy sector (Whitton, Charnley-Parry, and al. In preparation, Charnley-Parry et al. 2017). D5.3 specifically develops a practical methodology to facilitate the process of understanding and anticipating change in engagement practices over time. Work packages 2 and 4 have undergone stringent historical and social scientific analysis of nuclear energy in society, concerning perceptual and engagement issues from the inception of the nuclear industry up to the present day. In work package 5 one of the tasks is to qualitatively assess stakeholder representatives' perceptions of nuclear energy and society over time – from past to present, and then into the future. We organised a series of three workshops to, firstly, communicate the findings of previous work packages and stimulate dialogue around the findings of the HoNESt project (work package 6), and, secondly, to utilise expertise from a variety of industry, government, nongovernmental organisation, third sector, and citizen-stakeholder groups, to assess the heterogeneous perspectives on societal and political dimensions of nuclear history, to think through contemporary debates around engagement practices in the industry and to think forward to how engagement practices and policies should (and could) be changed in the future.