Abstract
When did man discover nuclear waste? To answer this question, we first have to ask if nuclear waste really is something that could be called a scientific discovery, such as might deserve a Nobel Prize in physics. In early writings within nuclear energy research radioactive waste appears to be a neglected issue, a story never told. Nuclear waste first seems to appear when a public debate arose about public health risks of nuclear power in the late 1960s and early 70s.
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Notes
Weart 1979, 1988.
Weart 1988: 296.
It is of course possible for an historian to notice and try to explain the lack of different voices in history. The best example from SandTS is perhaps the studies trying to explain the lack of women in science and technology. This topic has also been discussed explicitly by Pinch and Bijker (1984) when developing the Social Construction of Technology (SCOT) approach, see Bijker 1995: 48f and Pinch 1996: 31f.
The interpretative flexibility of the fission by-products has never diminished. Waste vs. resource is still a contested part of the future of nuclear power. This discussion is about reprocessing, breeder reactors and transmutation. In Sweden, however, since the beginning of the 1980s the interpretation, and therefore nuclear waste management, is based on the definition that all spent fuel is nuclear waste. See later sections of this chapter.
Anshelm 2000: 54–55.
Swedish laymen, on the contrary, consider risks associated with nuclear waste to be greater than risks connected with nuclear power. See Hedberg 2000: 330.
See Carlson 1981.
Lundgren 1998: ch. 16, 35, 36.
Valduell Palme–Fälldin, 1976–09–01.
Val 76: Socialdemokratema, 1976–09–13.
Rhodes 1988: ch. 13.
Proctor 1995: 181.
Weart 1988: 88.
For a detailed history of radiation safety work in the Manhattan project see Hacker 1987.
Weart 1988: 88–89.
The dual role, of both promoting and supervising nuclear energy, the AEC carried out until 1974. At this time the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) became the federal agency for licensing and supervising, while from 1977 the new Department of Energy (DOE) was given the responsibility for the development of nuclear energy issues (Weart 1988: 346).
de la Bruhèze 1992: 143.
de la Bruhèze 1992: 142.
de la Bruhèze 1992: 148.
Cf. Weart 1988: 343.
Weart 1988: 184–185.
Weart 1988: 185.
Weart 1988: 199.
Goertzel and Goertzel 1995: 144; cf. Weart 1988: 200–203.
Weart 1988: 203.
Goertzel and Goertzel 1995: 146.
Weart 1988: 204–205.
Goertzel and Goertzel 1995: xiv, 145.
Goertzel and Goertzel 1995: 146.
Weart 1988: 204.
See Mazur 1981: ch. 2.
Cf. Proctor 1995: 162.
Weart 1988: 207–209.
Weinberg 1972.
Weart 1988: 313–314; Lindell and Löfveberg 1972: 254f.
Weart 1988: 316.
Weinberger 1990.
Lindström 1991: 152ff.
Lindqvist 1997: 97.
Larsson 1987: 134.
Land 1976–12–23.
Land 1976–12–23.
Government Committee Investigations (SOU) are, in Sweden, an important tool for politicians to commission urgent knowledge before important decisions are taken.
SOU 1970:13, p. 104.
SOU 1956:46.
Cited from Kägeson and Kjellström 1984: 21.
Kageson and Kjellström 1984:21.
DsI 1971:1, p. 2.
Ds1 1971:1, p. 8.
Dsl 1971:1, p. 1.
Kageson and Kjellström 1984: 25.
DsI 1971:1, pp. 8–10.
DsI 1971:1, p. 1.
DsI 1971:1, pp. 1–8.
DsI 1971:1, pp. 2, 5.
Persson 1992: 5.
Dsl 1971:1, p. 11.
Lewin 1992; Rothstein 1992. See also Chapter 7.
Sundqvist 1991: ch. 5.
Jasanoff 1990; see also Chapter 2.
Larsson 1987: 126.
Lindström 1991: 59–61.
Lindström 1991:53.
ASEA was to deliver nine of the twelve Swedish reactors in the 70s and 80s.
Schagerholm 1993: 17.
Lindström 1991: 60.
Larsson 1987: 127; for big science see Price 1963.
Larsson 1987: 126–127; Lindström 1991: 86–87.
Larsson 1987: 127.
Lindström 1991: 92; Schagerholm 1993: 17.
See Lindström 1991:58.
See Lindström 1991: 58–59.
Lindström 1991:56.
Schagerholm 1993: 16.
Lindström 1991: 71–72.
Larsson 1987: 122.
For further reading see Lindström 1991 and Schagerholm 1993.
Larsson 1987: 150–151; Schagerholm 1993: 60.
Larsson 1987.
Larsson 1987: 149–150.
Schagerholm 1993:60.
Weart 1988: 303; cf. Anshelm 2000: 66–67.
Larsson 1987: 127.
de la Bruhèze 1992: 151.
de la Bruhèze 1992: 151.
de la Bruhéze 1992: 152, 169 n. 4.
Parker et al. 1984: 18; Tierney 1984: 94.
Tierney 1984: 95.
Cited from de la Bruhéze 1992: 163.
de la Bruhéze 1992: 155.
Tierney 1984: 97, 104.
Tierney 1984: 106; Weart 1988: 317.
Tierney 1984: 106.
Weart 1988: 317.
Tierney 1984: 106.
Weart 1988: 317.
Weart 1988: 317–318. The first results from surveys in Sweden, in 1980, showed that people were more concerned about nuclear waste than about nuclear reactors. This ranking has been confirmed every year since then. See Hedberg 2000: 330.
DsI 1971:1, pp. 26–27.
DsI 1971:1, pp. 27–28.
DsI 1971:1, p. 29.
SOU 1976:31, pp. 187–192.
SOU 1976:30, p. 85.
SOU 1976:30, p. 86.
SOU 1976:30, p. 83.
SOU 1976:30, p. 89.
SOU 1976:31, ch. 10.
Jamison, Eyerman and Cramer 1990; Schagerholm 1993.
Lindqvist 1997: ch. 7.
Cited from Kägeson and Kjellström 1984: 26; cf. Leijonhufvud 1979: 30 and Schagerholm 1993: 74.
Cited from Kageson and Kjellström 1984: 27.
Schagerholm 1993: 76.
Larsson 1987: 156.
Alfvén 1979.
Schagerholm 1993: 76f; see Weart 1988: 343f about the Swedish import of arguments from United States.
Larsson 1987: 156.
In some Swedish political parties the national congress is the highest decision-making body, where all members are invited to participate.
Schagerholm 1993:77.
Schagerholm 1993:77.
Jamison 1987: 38.
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Sundqvist, G. (2002). The Discovery of Nuclear Waste. In: The Bedrock of Opinion. Environment & Policy, vol 32. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9950-4_4
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