Suchergebnisse

AbstractIn this paper we propose a critical investigation of the epistemological, ontological, and moral foundations for the legitimacy of the (internationally accepted) permanent geological disposal option for high‐level radioactive waste. We do so through a reading of Nietzsche's second untimely meditation, "On the uses and disadvantages of history for life." In particular, we offer an interpretation of some of the central concepts in this text and Nietzsche's work in general—perspectivism, pluralism, active forgetting, etc.—and investigate the effects of the confrontation between these lines of thought and present practices in the management of medium‐ and high‐level long‐lived radioactive waste (categories B and C). Furthermore, we argue that this untimely meditation comes at a timely moment, i.e., at a time when modernity's way of dealing with waste could be undergoing a major transformation. The paper ends with some preliminary reflections on our nuclear inheritance and its link with nuclear power of the future (GenIV).

Belgium developed a rather extensive nuclear research and development (R&D) programme quite early due to the ready supply of uranium from the former colony of Congo and its contribution to the Manhattan project. Belgium, once had the national ambition of developing a full nuclear fuel cycle. Nuclear power provides 52% of the national electricity supply in Belgium in 2014. Belgium's seven reactors – four in the Flemish municipality of Doel, three in the Walloon municipality of Tihange – became operational between 1975 and 1985. The history of the Belgian nuclear programme is for a large part one of 'fait accompli' politics and has been characterized by a general lack of transparent decision making (Laes et al. 2007).